Life's Byways and Waysides: Chapter 16 - Faithfulness
By J.R. Miller
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness!" Matthew 25:21
No higher praise can be given to any life--than to say it has been faithful. No one could ask for a nobler epitaph than the simple words, "He was faithful." This will be the commendation given in the great account, to those who have made the most of their talents: "You have been faithful with a few things." Faithfulness should therefore be the aim in all our living. It is not great things that God expects or requires of us, unless He has given us great gifts and opportunities; all He requires is faithfulness. He gives us certain talents, puts us in certain relations, assigns to us certain duties, and then asks us to be faithful--and nothing more. The man with the plain gifts and the small opportunities, is not expected to do the great things which are required of the man with the brilliant talents and the large opportunities. We should get this truth fixed deeply in our mind--that God asks of no one anything more--than simple faithfulness.
Faithfulness is not the same in any two people. In the man who has five talents, there must be a great deal more outcome to measure up to the standard of faithfulness, than in the man who has but two talents. Faithfulness is simply being true to God--and making the most of one's life. Of those who have received little--only little is required; where much has been received--much is required. Never is anything impossible or unreasonable expected of anyone. If we are simply faithful--we shall please God.
Jesus said of Mary, after her act of love, when men murmured at her, "She has done what she could!" Mark 14:7. What had she done? Very little, we would say. She loved Jesus truly and deeply. Then she brought a flask of precious ointment and broke the flask, pouring the sacred nard upon her Lord's tired feet, those feet which soon were to be nailed to the cross. That was one of the ways love and honor were shown in those days.
What good did it do? That was the question the disciples asked. We know it wonderfully comforted the Savior's sorrowful heart. Amid almost universal hatred, here was one of His friends who believed in Him still. Amid maddening enmity--here was one who sincerely loved Him. While other hands were weaving a crown of thorns for His brow, and others still were forging cruel nails to drive through His feet--Mary's hands were pouring ointment on His head, and bathing His feet with the nard. Who will say that Mary's act did no good? We cannot know how her sweet, pure, loyal love--blessed our suffering Savior in His bitter anguish. It seemed a little thing--but little thing though it was, it gave the heart of Jesus a thrill of joy that made Him stronger for all the dark, terrible days that followed, and for that blackest, terriblest day of all--when He hung on the cross!
Call nothing 'little'--which gives comfort, strength, courage, or cheer to a struggling heart. A kindly handshake, when despair was wrapping a soul in folds of gloom and driving it to madness--saved a life from suicide. A sympathetic word, when one was about to yield to a temptation which would have left shame, dishonor, and ruin--rescued a soul and saved it for purity, beauty, and heaven. We do not know what is little. What seems so small to us as to be almost insignificant, may have infinite and eternal consequences, when all its harvest of results is gathered up in the judgment. "She has done what she could." That was blessed praise for Mary. That is all Christ asks of any of us--just the best we can do. He never asks anything we cannot do.
But let us not forget that our Master always does expect and require of each of us--what we can do--all that we can do. Faithful as a measure of requirement, is not a pillow for indolence. It is not a letting down of obligations to a low standard, to make life easy. Faithfulness is a lofty standard. "She has done what she could" is the highest commendation any lips can ever speak. It meant that with her resources, Mary could have done nothing better that hour, nothing that would have meant more to her Lord and Friend. The man with the one talent, who made no use of his talent, keeping it in a napkin, received no commendation of, "Faithful servant! " He had done nothing with his life--and he lost all that he had. Not to use what we have--is to lose it. The stars in the heavens would rot, says someone, if they did not move. Less than our best, is unfaithfulness. With all Christ's patience, He does require of us, our best.
This divine law of faithfulness applies to all callings in life and to every kind of work. Some people try to make a separation between sacred and secular matters, as if religion applied only to one part of a man's life. But there is a moral quality in everything that a moral being does. The judgment of God will take in not only specifically religious acts--but also all that belongs to one's business or trade.
The young minister went to see one of his members, who was a shoemaker. He found him busy at his work, and sat down in his shop for a talk. "I am glad to see men who can use the humblest vocation for the glory of God, as you are doing," said the minister, as the conversation went on. The shoemaker replied saying there was no such thing in this wide world as a humble vocation. "You are a minister of the gospel, by the grace of God. I am a shoemaker, by the grace of God. If I make good shoes, I shall be as much approved before God, as you will for being a faithful pastor. All work is noble and honorable."
He went on to say that the minister would carry up to the judgment--a fair sample of the sermons he had preached; and he, the shoemaker, would carry up a fair sample of the shoes he had made. Both would be judged by the quality of their work. Goodness is goodness, whether you find it in the mill-owner or in a mill-worker. The old shoemaker picked up a pair of shoes which had been left for mending. "If that boy should catch cold some day and get pneumonia, his father, who is poor, would have a doctor's bill to pay, and might lose the child. I propose to mend the shoes as though my salvation depended on it. I can't afford, as a child of God, with a hope of heaven, to put poor work into that job, for much depends on it. I would not like to meet that boy up yonder and have him tell me he died because I was not a faithful shoemaker. Do you think a vocation is a humble one--when it deals with the health and life of our fellow-creatures?"
