Blood ran thick with battle lust. The line between friend and foe became blurred. The fierce would defeat the fainthearted in pursuit of the ultimate prize. There would be casualties, but that is the price of war. It was sixth grade class presentations and only one set of parents would be left standing.
My class was studying ancient Greece and every student had to do an oral presentation. My worst nightmare came true when a fellow student made his presentation on the Parthenon—complete with a scale model his architect father ‘helped him’ construct. I was devastated. There was no way I could compete with an architect’s masterpiece! I sullenly informed my parents of my plight and they leapt into action. Because I loved Greek mythology, we decided to build the famous labyrinth. However, as the creative juices started flowing, my elementary grade input quickly diminished. My enthusiastic parents had a single-minded mission—take out the Parthenon! I was soon pushed to the sidelines as my obsessed mom and dad worked through the night. The next morning I saw the final product. My bleary-eyed parents greeted me with a victorious smile. “Isn’t it magnificent!?” they asked. It was! I aced my presentation and my project became the talk of the class. However, it was not my victory; that belonged to my parents. Suddenly, beating the competition didn’t feel so sweet.
I like to dream big. My head soars into the clouds as I consider all the ways I want to serve God. Meanwhile I grow discouraged when I get stuck doing “small” things. I have recently moved from Canada to North Carolina. I was heavily involved in my old church, but now find myself without one. In my search for a new church family I have been learning an important lesson: God entrusts you with what your character can handle. The size of your character determines the size of your divine assignment. Just as my parents worked at a different level on the labyrinth than I did, so I am also on a different level in my walk with God than they are. I admire their faith but I know how they got there—they have been faithful over the years to do whatever God asked them, whether it was small or large.
Jesus told a story (see Matthew 25) about a traveling man who left his servants in charge of his wealth. When he returned, two of the servants had doubled what they started with. Because of their faithfulness with a little, their master entrusted them with much more. I have to ask myself—am I like these servants? Have I been faithful with whatever God asked me to do? Or am I like the third servant who envied the other two while neglecting his own duty? This is a humbling, yet growing time for me. God’s Word promises that the more faithful I am with God’s Will now, the more my character will grow, and the more I will be able to handle tomorrow.
Mike Blackaby is 25 years old and is the college and young adult pastor at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, GA. Mike loves to play music, loves to snowboard, play hockey, and cheers for the Colorado Avalanche. He is terrified of spiders, but loves reading fantasy novels, watching movies, taking road trips, building camp fires, and will do any roller coaster if someone goes with him. You can contact him via Facebook.