Entrusted

1 Thessalonians 2:4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

I have been thinking again this morning of the words my 6yr old used Christmas morning. There was such a burden on his heart that he had to tell me something before he could even seemingly look at his presents. “I am not really entrusted with the presents, I am entrusted with Jesus’s birthday.” His words blew me out of the water, and the choice of the word “entrusted” was what grabbed me. He had been a typical 6yr old with the persistent mention of opening presents for about 72hrs durning family functions. He had been consistently reminded of what Christmas was really about; Jesus’s birthday. At some time it seemed to sink in and God placed that burden on his heart Christmas morning in a beautiful way that I even caught on video.

I searched “entrusted” this morning and found it 3 times in the Bible. The scripture above is what grabbed me. Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, almost defending his ministry. He was speaking of how God had entrusted him with the Good News, and of how He had called Paul to minister, to become a vessel for God to share it through him to others. God trusted Paul and knew Paul’s heart. Paul had a heart for God and the things of God; he did not seek any glory or personal gain as a result of what God had entrusted him with. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed–God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. Paul could have taken what God had given him for self gain, but Paul only sought to point people to Christ; even preaching the Gospel when he knew he would suffer for it.

Have you been “entrusted” with the Gospel? Do you claim Christianity yet live with no evidence of it in your life? What would those that surround you every day say about your faith if they were asked? How many of them might say they don’t want to be a Christian if that is how they act? We will all stand before God when we die and answer what we did with the knowledge of Christ; what we had been entrusted with. Paul spoke of a heart transformed by Christ to those in Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Paul got it; he lived a life transformed by what he was entrusted with. He lived a life full of the evidence of Christ dwelling in him. He took was God had given him and treated it like a treasure. Nothing else matter in Paul’s life except the gift that he had been given through Christ; and all his life he sought to share what he had been entrusted to with others.