When we are faithful to the Lord, He would often bless us with more. We would often expect these blessings to come in terms of more wealth or more smooth sailing life. But usually we do not get what we expect. What we find ourselves in is more work and responsibilities. Some people get disappointed as a result.
Perhaps we have the wrong expectations from God. The blessings of God do not necessarily come in terms of the world’s riches. This may be what we expect but this may not happen all the time. But it does happen especially when we are faithful in the workplace (but even promotion comes with more work). When we are serving God in the kingdom, the reward is often more responsibilities. When God rewards us with another five talents for our faithfulness in investing the five talents we have, He is rewarding us greater stewardship. Those who are faithful with little would be faithful with much. God would also entrust them with more. But here is the problem, we want more riches as reward but not responsibilities. We are fearful in fact because it would mean that we would have more work. We have more people to lead and more resources to manage. We also have less time for ourselves and our family. We see all these as “costs” rather than rewards. Some of us have to endure the criticisms of others even. This is where wrong expectations lead to disappointment. The rewards from God have become costs and burdens to us.
The truth is this: when we are faithful in the Lord, we would play a greater role in the kingdom of God. This means greater responsibilities. Rather than seeing it as a cost or something to fear, why not take it as a honour? Perhaps, it is time we change our perspective. Stop thinking blessings in terms of monetary terms only, this is incomplete. There’s greater blessings when God entrusts His kingdom to us. Many people also fear this because of the fear of being responsible for lives. They know that following up on those lives is hard work. But take heart, God will help us. If faithful people are not taking charge of their lives, is it not more worrying to hand them over to someone who is unfaithful?
Like it or not, God is in the transforming business. He wants us to be part of this work. Receive the reward with honour rather than running away. A faithful worker will be a leader someday. This is a natural law in the kingdom of God.