The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
In a world filled with a lot of talk, we want to have meaningful, biblical conversations with those God has entrusted to us. Join Tosha Williams and the Family Disciple Me ministry for Devotion Driven Discipleship conversation starters that will encourage you to "Seek Him Speak Him" in your own life.
Family Disciple Me is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian ministry dedicated to catalyzing Devotion Driven Discipleship in our own lives and homes as well as around the world.
For more information, visit familydiscipleme.org
The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
Character Conversations: RESPONSIBLE // Kid > Employee > Manager > Boss > Owner
The simple act of doing chores can instill lifelong values of responsibility and stewardship in children. Join me, Tosha Williams, as I share a little about my family's personal journey on the farm, where every chore was a lesson in reliability and responsibility, inspired by biblical principles from Matthew 25:29. In our family, the journey from kid > employee > manager > boss > owner has been a deliberate continuum that applies not just to our kids but to us grownups as well.
Listen in on this podcast and ask God how He wants you to engage your own family in this "devotion driven discipleship" conversation about responsibility! Use the following content to guide you in this character conversation!
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CHARACTER CONVERSATIONS: Responsible
“To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” Matthew 25:29 NLT
SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! Everyone has been given something, but not everyone is responsible with these blessings. What about us? Are we using well what we’ve been given? Let’s consider what Jesus said about being a responsible steward in Matthew 25.
- WHAT: What is God saying through this Scripture? In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus taught a parable about being responsible and wise with what we’ve been given. - Take a few moments to read Matthew 25:14-30. Describe some ways people used their gifts. What types of people get talents and gifts? What are some things that have been entrusted to you: time, money, resources, opportunities, health, education…
- WHY: Why does this Scripture matter? We are to be good stewards or caretakers of what God has given us. Everything belongs to Him, and whether or not we use well what He's given us will determine whether or not He will give us more. ~ According to this passage, how does God feel about us wasting what He’s given us? Does wastefulness matter to you; why or why not?What is God's measure for whether or not He is going to give us more?
- HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? God entrusts us with more as He sees us be responsible with what He has already given us. If we want more abundance in our lives, then we must intentionally be responsible with the abundance He has already given. ~ What are some ways you're taking care of what God has given you? Name three ways you can better steward what you’ve been given.
SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! God has entrusted each of us with people, time and opportunities. How are we being responsible with these blessings? Are we using well the opportunities He’s given us to invest in those we love? Thing is, meaningful, intentional discipleship conversations about God and His Word are an investment in today and in eternity. Speak Him!
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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
We live in a world of entitlement where so many people think they should be given something for nothing. This may or may not work out well in the world's economy, but this is definitely not the way God's economy works and it's not the way the Williams household has worked. Either God graciously gives us gifts to steward, then he gives us more, or takes away what he has given us, based on how we use what we've been given. At my house, this is the way we tried to raise our kids so that they would have a work ethic and be faithful, reliable, trustworthy and be faithful, reliable, trustworthy, responsible people. Thing is, whether we're kids or grown-ups, god's Word teaches us to be responsible people in every area of our lives.
Speaker 1:This is such a powerful truth and it's always been one of my favorite topics to talk about with my kids. Even now that they're grown, I still find this to be a most important, inspiring conversation. So let's take just a few moments to consider this truth. Today. Let's specifically consider the character trait of being responsible, and you know what's so fun about this character trait. It comes with a promise.
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 right now Kid, employee, manager, boss, owner.
Speaker 1:This is a trajectory I talk about all the time with our youngest daughter, journey Grace. She's the baby of our family, a senior in high school, but still the baby of our family. But we've always tried to raise each of our kids to be leaders in their own right. So even though Journey Grace is the youngest, we see her as just as much of a leader as her older siblings, and part of being a leader is to grow in responsibility. For me, being a mom of five, it's taken me many years to be able to fully articulate how I've tried to train my kids, but about a year or so ago this five-word trajectory became a very regular conversation point for Journey Grace and I. I finally figured out how to articulate it Kid, employee, manager, boss, owner. Thing is, every one of us starts out as a kid, right, but where we go from there is up to us and how responsible we want to be and will be. Now the world would say that everyone has the right to be an owner, or at least the boss, and you can do with that mindset whatever you will.
Speaker 1:However, a biblical mindset from God's Word teaches a very, very different paradigm. Scripture says in Matthew 25, verse 29,. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. That's Matthew 25, 29. And it's from the New Living Translation.
Speaker 1:I remember many years ago on family vacation, when I sat my children down and began to memorize this verse with them. They were all little at that time. In fact, I think at that point Journey Grace was still a baby, so the applications were very different then than the applications are today. But back on that moment, that time there on that family vacation, I began memorizing that scripture with my kids and then we talked about how it applied to their lives at the time. Then we talked about how it applied to their lives at the time.
Speaker 1:Now, at that point in our family, our children were entrusted with some of the chores of our little farm. That included things like feeding the dogs and cats, changing the litter boxes, feeding the chickens, gathering the eggs, pulling the trash can the quarter mile up our driveway, so on and so forth. None of these were huge deals, although, come to think of it, the animals were involved, so they were life or death jobs for those critters. Still, these were the initial ways that we were trying to teach our children to use well what they'd been given. As time passed and our kids grew and showed themselves reliable and responsible, or as they grew and just needed to be assigned the next task of learning to be reliable and responsible, my husband and I began to hire them for various jobs. These were the beginning steps of going from being kids to being employees. Our children were given jobs like checking on the cattle, filling the water tanks, hauling the hay, getting it in the round pen or the feeding trough, fixing the hot fences. The responsibilities were greatly magnified, as really the life and death of cattle is an entirely different magnitude than the life and death of smaller animals. How well they did their jobs, how well they did what they'd been given to do well, it mattered on an extremely consequential level for our family.
Speaker 1:All along the way, we repeatedly tried to teach our kids the truth, this truth from Matthew 25, 29,. To those who use well what they're given, even more will be given and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now this verse is found in context of Jesus telling the parable of the talents, and I encourage you to take just a few moments and read the whole passage that surrounds this verse Matthew 25, verses 14 to 30. Think about Jesus' story and how various people used their talents, their gifts, what they'd been given. And then I encourage you to ask the three questions that we always encourage you to ask with Family.
Speaker 1:Disciple Me the questions of what, why and how. God, what are you saying through this scripture, god? Why does it matter? God, how do you want me to respond to this truth? For me personally, this verse reminds me that we're to be good stewards, or good caretakers, of what God has given us. Everything belongs to Him, and he wants us to be responsible stewards of what he's entrusted to us. This was true on the Williams farm, that's for sure. As we were raising our kids, we didn't put any of them in charge of caring for the animals in the barnyard until they'd been responsible caring for the animals in the garage.
Speaker 1:How much more so is it true with our Heavenly Father, who entrusts so much to our care? Thing is, according to the scripture, how responsible we are with what God has already given us is how he decides whether or not he will give us more. If we want more abundance in our lives, then we must intentionally be responsible with the abundance he's already given us. This truth of this scripture applies to kids and teenagers, the next generation, but it also applies to every single one of us. We've all been given gifts, right. This applies quite literally to talents, which, in our culture, isn't what we call cash, but talents are still extremely valuable. What gifts of talents have you been given? Think about this, but also think about the gifts that God has given in terms of things like well time, education opportunities, resources, jobs, health, finances, the gifts of space and place. There are so many gifts that God has given each one of us, and I'll also add, as a pastor's wife of almost three and a half decades, I also believe that the gifts that God has given us applies just as well and just as much to spiritual gifts.
Speaker 1:What is it that God has entrusted to you? How are you managing it? Are you acting like a kid, where, well, you just get stuff, lose stuff, don't take care of stuff, sometimes find stuff? Are you acting like a kid, or are you beginning to go through the trajectory of being an owner, of managing well what you've been given, being a manager, of being a boss of what God has given, of owning what God has entrusted to you. It may seem strange to apply that trajectory to your life or to my life as grownups, but isn't it the same? God is our heavenly father and he entrusts these gifts to us and he says to those who use well what they are given, even more will be a given and they will have an abundance. But the reverse is, from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Speaker 1:That verse to me is not just a conversation point with my kids, as much as I love it and as many times as we've circled that conversation. That scripture is a direct word to me today. Am I using well what God has entrusted to me? And what about you? Are you using well what God has entrusted to you? Are you a responsible steward of his gifts? Am I a responsible steward of his gifts? This passage of scripture comes with a warning where God says if you don't use it well, I'm going to take it away. And well, I personally am not going to sit here and say how that's going to happen, but that's the warning that Jesus gives in this story. But he also gives us a promise. He says that when we use well what he's given to us, when we are responsible stewards of what he has entrusted to us, that he is going to entrust more to our care. This truth goes hand in hand with the scripture from our character conversation about being trustworthy.
Speaker 1:Luke 16 10 says whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and so kid employee manager, boss owner. Well, the kid days are nigh upon gone for my husbands and my kids. Now Only Journey Grace remains for a few more months. Our kids' employee days on the farm. They've come to an end, all except for Journey Grace's farmhand days. Now it's up to our grown-up kids to be responsible employees, managers, boss and maybe someday owners, in their own rights and in their own ways. And we've got a few new grandbabies in the mix now, and soon enough our kids will begin teaching their kids this trajectory about kid employee manager, boss owner.
Speaker 1:But the truth of being a responsible steward, it continues to apply to every stage and every season of life.
Speaker 1:And ultimately, in this passage, the compliment quote well done, my good and faithful servant. Well, that was given to those who were responsible stewards of the talents that had been entrusted to them in their season. So let's put thought into what God has placed into our care. Let's consider carefully how we use every talent, every opportunity, every resource he's given us. Let's seek Him about all of these things. Let's seek Him about this scripture and the truth and how he wants us to apply it to our lives. And then, after we seek him, let's speak him into the lives of the precious ones he's entrusted to us. Oh, friend, we serve such a gracious and kind and generous heavenly father. May we have the immense privilege of sharing in His joy as we faithfully, responsibly steward what he's entrusted to us. So go with God, be the best employee, manager, owner, boss, whatever he has called you to, as you are a responsible steward, I can't wait to hear what he entrusts to you next.
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.