"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required"

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required" (Luke 12:48)

For some a few years now, I've felt as if these words were being repeated in my ears almost constantly. It's a principle that runs throughout Scripture. We, believers, and especially preachers, are stewards (1 Corinthians 4:1ff). We have been entrusted with something incredibly precious - the words of the gospel.

More widely, we who speak English and have been brought up in the West have an incredible range of opportunities - a field so vast that it would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. We can:

• Send letters or e-mails of encouragement to missionaries with just a few clicks, whereas in previous centuries it would have taken months. We can even ring them up and speak to them.
  
  
• Hear news of and send aid in minutes to needy believers in far-flung places (see the previous blog post!). Be able to have your money go an incredibly long way in helping poor believers in countries where pounds sterling stretch really far.
  
  
• Have easy access to the most amazing range of godly and useful literature - delivered to your door by 9 a.m. tomorrow! Small books, chunky commentaries, Biblical language learning aids, etcetera etcetera...
  
  
• Hear some of the world's most gifted preachers whilst walking to work, or jogging in the park - a few clicks and a free download away.
  
  
• Have the opportunity to gain the highest quality educational available, and study on campus or at home.
  
  
• Be able to communicate with almost anyone you need to, whenever you need to, wherever you are.
  
  
• Be able to collaborate on anything you choose with anyone you need to without leaving your desk.
  
  
• Be able to look back on 2000 years of Christian history, understand which way the wind is blowing, and act wisely.
  
  
• Living in a secular society, we have the opportunity to show the Christian difference much more clearly than in previous years when society was nominally Christian.
  
  
• And so on...
  

What a staggeringly immense amount we have been given. Christians living today in the modern west ought to be the most godly, learned and productive Christians that the world has ever seen. We've been given much - much more than our ancestors could even begin to imagine.

And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required.