What Has God Entrusted to You?

By John E. Thomas

Our trust in God informs every aspect of our life. We decide in faith that He is trustworthy, that He is faithful. We believe His Word is true, that He did what He says He did, that He will do what He said He would do.

Trust, however, goes both ways. We trust Him…but He first trusted us.

He created the world we live in. He prepared it to be a good gift for us, to provide all we need: food, shelter, relationships, security, and purpose. He made it and then asked us to take care of it.

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in His own image,

In the image of God He created him;

Male and female He created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26–28 ESV)

Every created thing was given to us as a gift. God set it under our dominion, or authority, for a purpose: to fill and subdue it. Not to our desires or design, but to His desires and design. We were given authority over what we have in order to expand His kingdom. Jesus reiterated this just before He ascended to heaven:

Jesus came to them and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

Everything still belongs to God, but we have been entrusted with certain things so we can reveal His image. Part of His image is “One who makes things better.” In other words, we have been given things to improve them. To bring the redemption we’ve received into every sphere where we have influence.

What has God entrusted to us?

We are entrusted with life. Our life is a gift from God. His breath entered the dirt form He called Adam and caused the man to live (Genesis 2:7). If He were to withdraw His Spirit from creation, there would be no life! (See Psalm 104:29–30; Job 34:14–15.) All of this means this life we have is not ours, to do with as we please, but we owe our life to God and have the privilege of fulfilling His will with it.

We are entrusted with resources. Deuteronomy makes it clear that all our wealth comes from God’s hand (Deuteronomy 8:17–18). Proverbs tells us that as we honor God with our resources, He will increase them (Proverbs 3:9–10). Jesus taught that how we handle our earthly resources determines the level of spiritual resources we will be trusted with later (Luke 16:11). As we handle our resources well, we will always have enough to do the good things God has assigned to us (2 Corinthians 9:8).

We are entrusted with relationships. God created relationships because He saw it wasn’t good for mankind to be alone (Genesis 2:18). That is why He instituted marriage between man and woman, caused us to be born into families, and set us into groups of people. We get to steward these relationships to expand God’s kingdom, bringing heavenly influence through our example and words.

We are entrusted with opportunities. God puts us in specific places, at specific times, so we can be fruitful. He wants us to succeed in what He gave us to do. He blesses people so they will accomplish His purposes for them—purposes that put them in the middle of His plan to bring His kingdom to bear in situations where it is needed. When opportunities come, we get to seek Him for wisdom and direction and step out in faith. As we do, He is glorified and, amazingly, we are also glorified (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12).

We are entrusted with spiritual gifts. The gifts belong to God, not us. They are expressions of His nature and power—His grace (1 Corinthians 12:7). All we have is a gift from God.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10–11)

We are merely stewards, or managers, of what belongs to God. When that is our mindset, we will find ourselves taking seriously the charges He gave us. We expand His kingdom in every sphere we touch: our resources, our family, our workplace, our social groups, our community.

He is with us, and our hope is not in what we have—but in what He has. The fact that we are stewards puts the responsibility of provision on Him, which gives us such freedom! We are using what He has, not what we have. As we are faithful with what He has entrusted us with, we will receive more and more (see Luke 16:1–13; 19:11–27; Matthew 25:14–30).

Take a moment and think through what you have been entrusted with.

What talents or gifts, what jobs or opportunities, what resources or things, what family, friends, and social groups? List them out and spend some time praying, asking God to show you how to be faithful to Him with these things.

• Why did He give them to you?
• What does He want you to do with them?
• How can you be faithful so He can bless you with even more?

Act on what He shows you, expecting that beautiful “Well done” when you see Him face to face.