The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

Character Conversations: TRUSTWORTHY // Known for being Honest, Truthful and Reliable

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 5 • Episode 6

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What does it mean to be trustworthy in our challenging world? Let's explore this profound theme of being someone that others can rely on. In this episode, I (Tosha Williams) reflect on my own family and some of the character conversations that have shaped and continue to shape our lives. We will look at the wisdom of Luke 16:10, a profound Scripture that encourages us to embody faithfulness in both small and great matters. Listen in on this podcast episode, then we challenge you to "Seek Him Speak Him." Use the following conversation guide as a resource to get you going in devotion driven discipleship!

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“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10 NIV


SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! We live in a world where people lie, deceive, cheat and steal, all the while with smiles on their faces. Sometimes it’s hard to know who to trust, isn’t it? Thing is, though others around us may lack integrity, God wants His children to be trustworthy. Let’s “Seek Him” about this character trait through Luke 16:10. 

  • WHAT:  What is God saying through this Scripture? The word trusted in this verse is about being faithful, reliable and honest. The Bible says that having this sort of character in small things shows whether or not we’ll have this sort of character in big areas of our lives. ~ What are some small things in your life right now? Why does Scripture say these little details matter? What about something like little white lies -  can you be a trustworthy person with these? (Why or why not?)
  • WHY:  Why does this Scripture matter? God is trustworthy; He is always faithful, reliable, honest and true. He wants us to have these character traits in our lives, too. When we choose to be trustworthy people, we follow His example and show the world a picture of what He is like. ~ Does it matter to you to be known as a trustworthy person; why or why not? Do you believe God is trustworthy? What are some ways He has earned your trust?
  • HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? Details matter, even the smallest details. So we can practice being trustworthy in all the little details, as so that we will know how to be trustworthy in the big things. This applies to every area of life, so we always have opportunities to learn and grow in this character trait. ~ How are you seeking to earn others’ trust? Are you true to your word? What is one way you have integrity when no one is looking? What makes you a trustworthy person?

SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! Speaking of trust, God has entrusted every single one of us with other people. That means He’s placed them in our care, for His glory and their good. Are you trustworthy with this? If so, what are you investing in the precious ones entrusted to you? 

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

Speaker 1:

Daniel was faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy. Are you that kind of kid? When my children were younger, we used to say this scripture verse, followed by this question, in a sing-song sort of manner. This always made us laugh as we talked about these character traits and whether or not we were applying them to our lives To this day. If I say this verse in our old sing-song sort of manner, well, my kids, my grown-up kids now, will follow it with the question are you that kind of kid, those little kid growing up? Years are long gone now. Wow, how quickly life changes. My family is moving into the next generation stage, as three grandbabies have been born into our family this year. As soon as they begin talking, we'll begin talking with them about these truths and asking them this question I'm sure Daniel was faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy. Are you that kind of kid? I can't wait to have these meaningful, intentional discipleship moments with my grandchildren. But the thing is, even now, before I start teaching my grandchildren about character or expect my grown-up kids to grow in character, I myself need to continue to grow in character. And now the question that I used to ask them is the question that God holds up to me, daniel was faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy. Are you that kind of person? How do I answer that question? How do you answer this question? There's so much to talk about from Daniel's example and I can think of about 50 different conversations that can springboard just from his life. But for right now, as we continue in our character conversations, let's specifically focus on the character trait of being completely trustworthy.

Speaker 1:

Let's jump into Luke 16.10. This is one of the very first scriptures that I sought to teach my kids back in the day in discipleship. I love this verse and I love where it leads us in devotion in discipleship. I love this verse and I love where it leads us in devotion-driven discipleship. So let me cue the intro and then I invite you to stay with me as we spend some time talking about this character trait of trustworthiness and then hold on for the end, because the way it all wraps together is so powerful and encouraging to me. I believe it'll be encouraging to you. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now going with that.

Speaker 1:

Right now, as I record this podcast episode, we are in the midst of a presidential election season and, wow, it's hard to know who to trust. Just because someone says something doesn't make it true. Just because someone quote, fact checks something doesn't make it right. Just because a candidate asserts something doesn't make it right. Just because a candidate asserts something doesn't make it real. And the thing is, you know as well as I do that politics is just a microcosm example that we live in a world where it's hard to trust almost anybody. People lie, people deceive, they cheat and steal, all the while with smiles on their faces. Sometimes it's hard to know who to trust right, and wow, this could lead us in a thousand conversations about, well, not being gullible or naive, about being discerning, about who to trust and who not to trust, about being wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. And let me just say this being the case, if this is where the bunny trail from this conversation topic leads you to go to with your kids, then I say go for it, jump right on down that trail and have conversation after conversation about who to trust and who not to trust, about being wise and not being gullible. For right now, though, I want us to focus on the flip side, the positive side, the side of being trustworthy.

Speaker 1:

Luke 16.10 records Jesus' words about trustworthiness. He said Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So, when we come to the scripture and really any scripture I encourage you to ask these three questions. They are what, why and how, and the questions that go along with each of those are what is God saying through this scripture, why does it matter, and how does God want us to respond to this truth? For me personally, when I seek him and ask God these questions, one thing that he highlights to me every time in this scripture is the fact that the little details matter as much as the big details. Being trustworthy in those things that are small or seem insignificant in our lives. That is as important as being trustworthy in all the things that seem so important or that are such big details of our lives. What is true of us in the small things is what will be true of us in the really big things of our lives.

Speaker 1:

I find it really interesting that this word translated trusted in this verse is very closely related to being faithful, closely related to being faithful, reliable and honest. To be trustworthy is to be faithful. To be trustworthy is to be reliable. To be trustworthy is to be true to your word. And wow, so many applications from that for our lives. Is it okay for us to tell little white lies? Can we be trusted with something that's confidential? Do we break secrets that have been entrusted to us? And I'm not talking about hiding sin, I'm talking about keeping confidences when someone asks us to hold a matter closely. Are we trustworthy people? And well, do we spend time with trustworthy people? I think that that is an amazing application for each of us personally, but also great stuff to talk about with our kids, with those entrusted to us.

Speaker 1:

But for me, that question what is God saying through this scripture always leads to the next question why does the scripture matter? I will say that there are some people in the older generation that says you should never question why something matters in scripture, but I've found the kids like to ask the question why? So let's just lean into that with them and let's be curious with God as their mentors, as their parents, grandparents, leaders, whatever. It's okay for us to look to God and say why does this scripture matter?

Speaker 1:

And as I asked God that question myself, as I spent time seeking him in his word about the scripture, one thing that stood out to me is the fact that God is trustworthy. Stood out to me is the fact that God is trustworthy. He is always faithful, always reliable, always honest, always true. He is who he says he is and he does what he says he will do. Over and over and over again, he's proven himself trustworthy and faithful. And the thing is, why does this scripture matter?

Speaker 1:

Well, god wants us to have these character traits in our lives too. When we're trustworthy, we're following his example and we're showing the world a picture of what he is like. Yes, we're showing it in our broken ways, because I am not perfect, none of us are perfect, none of us are perfect, none of us get it 100% right. But if our goal is to be a small mirror of his greatness, of his glory, then we will choose to be trustworthy in the little things as well. And so those two questions what and why lead to this final question how, how does God want us to respond to this truth?

Speaker 1:

And when we look at scripture, instead of just blowing it off and saying, yeah, yeah, I know that or oh, I've done that or I've accomplished that. We let God continue to speak to our hearts. We keep our ears open to hear what he has to say to us. And as I ask God this question, he reminds me that trustworthiness can be practiced in the little things. That trustworthiness can be practiced in the little things.

Speaker 1:

Even today, even at this age and stage of my life, I can practice trustworthiness in the little things so that I'll know how to be trustworthy in the big things. Trustworthiness means letting my yes mean yes always, every time, and that my no means no always every time. Being trustworthy means that I don't allow myself to have little lies, little white lies that maybe don't matter to the world, but that I know matters to the spirit of God living inside of me. Trustworthiness means I don't take shortcuts in integrity, but that I do what I say I'm going to do and that I am the person that God has created and called me to be every time, not one person on Sundays and Mondays and a different person on Fridays, but that I consistently, but that I consistently, reliably, truthfully, honestly show up and be the person he wants me to be, day in and day out.

Speaker 1:

What about you? What is the Spirit of God saying to you through this scripture? I encourage you and challenge you to seek him through it, but then seek him with the family. Disciple me.

Speaker 1:

Ministry always leads us to the opposite bookend, which is to speak him, and this is where I get really jazzed when I consider this verse. It says whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. When it comes to discipleship, who has God entrusted to you? Who has he said you are my steward for this child or for these children, or you are my steward for this teenager or that teenager or these young adults, or these high schoolers or these middle schoolers? Who is it that God has entrusted to you? Discipleship is about making God known to others. Discipleship is taking that seek him where you have spent time with Jesus, meeting with him, and turning that seek him into a speak him where you share him with someone else that he has entrusted to you.

Speaker 1:

I think the first place that this shows up most readily is with our kids, right, with the little ones, the middle-sized ones, the young ones, the young adult ones. Whoever it is that he has put into our lives, into our families. I don't think that any of us would call even one child as being quote very little right. We believe that every single life that God has entrusted to our care is very much and is very significant. But the point that I want to make to you in this, as we talk about speak him in context of Luke 16, 10, is that as we are trustworthy with the people that God has already put into our lives, as we are faithful to seek him and then turn around and speak him into their lives, I really believe that he will begin to entrust us with more people. So maybe you have one child and he's going to entrust you with a second child. Maybe it's your own biological child, or maybe it's a niece or a nephew or a child at church and children's ministry. Or maybe you have a couple of teenagers and you're faithfully seeking him and then turning around and speaking him into their lives, and then God says I'm going to entrust you with two more. When you have two more kids, show up in the backseat of your vehicle for carpool. As you're faithful in the little, as you're trustworthy and you're reliable with what he has already given you to steward, then he is going to give you more to steward. I find that so significant. I find that so meaningful.

Speaker 1:

God wants us to practice trustworthiness in every area of our lives and, as we are trustworthy with what he has already given us, his word says he teaches us that he's going to entrust us with more. This principle in scripture isn't just about things or money. This is a scriptural principle that applies to every area of our lives and since we are specifically focused on discipleship, we are specifically focused on discipleship. Well, we can apply this truth, this principle, to our lives right now, today, and I hope that you'll be encouraged in that as much as I've been encouraged in this, and we're going to talk about this more in next week's character conversation as we discuss Matthew 25, 29, which also is one of my favorite verses.

Speaker 1:

But for now, as we wrap up this episode, I want to go back to where I started this podcast, and that is with the legacy of Daniel's life.

Speaker 1:

Scripture says Daniel was faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy. Are you that kind of person? Does God see you that way, the way that he saw Daniel? What a compliment Jesus gave Daniel, and I believe this is the compliment that Jesus will give us when we live trustworthy lives, to which he will respond well done my good and faithful servant. Oh Jesus, will you give us, each one of us, the ability to be trustworthy in everything that you've called us to do? Would you fill us with your strength, your grace, your wisdom, so that we'll navigate this road well, that we won't go off-roading into areas where we're stuck in lies or hypocrisy or deception or dishonesty, but, god, that we will be faithful, reliable. Be faithful, reliable and true to what you have called us to do and to who you have called us to be, in your name, jesus, amen. Oh friend, go with God. I pray that you'll be encouraged and that, as you consider this verse, you'll seek him and then you'll go, speak him into the lives of those he has entrusted to you.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the matching conversation guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek him. Speak him.