How God Measures Faithfulness

John Bevere: How God Measures Faithfulness

By

Staff Writer

-

February 13, 2017

John Bevere has asked many ministry leaders how to define faithfulness. Among the answers Bevere has gleaned are words you would think of: consistent, loyal, trustworthy, etc. But the definition he’s never heard is multiplication.
Jesus actually links faithfulness and multiplication in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In this parable, we learn the master who handed out the talents calls the servants who were able to multiply “good and faithful,” while the third servant he calls “wicked and slothful.” The third servant doesn’t understand God’s character, Bevere explains. This servant called the master a “hard man” and was afraid to risk anything so that he might multiply the talents. He gives back to the master the same amount he was given in the first place—he only managed to maintain.
The lesson for us here, in the modern church, is that God is not going to be happy with us if we just maintain and never seek to multiply. It’s not enough to keep the talent safe—we have to overcome fear in order to multiply.

“In our labor, God views those who multiply as faithful and good, but God views those who maintain as wicked and lazy.”