This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

A trust relationship is a very special kind of arrangement. Banks have entire departments dedicated to trust accounts. These are typically set up by parents or guardians for children to take care of them, after the parents passed away. They can also be set up for spouses when the other spouse has passed or for other arrangements, like charitable giving.

When I worked in banking, I worked next to some of the trust officers. Their job was very compliance driven. They had to uphold a certain standard of care over the assets they managed for their clients. Investments were made in secure or well-known companies with a modest, but highly likely return. They would go over these investment strategies with the trustor before setting up the trust.

There would be a date when the beneficiaries could start withdrawing funds. These funds would be dispersed by the trustee. But these funds are typically able to be withdrawn at a stated amount or for a stated purpose. An example might be that a husband and wife were killed in an airplane crash and their children were the beneficiaries of their trust. The trust dictated that they would not receive money beyond the money it took for their daily living until after they graduated from college. The trust could also pay for their college. After college, they might get a certain amount a month for living expenses. And then at a certain age, maybe 25 or 30, they could receive the rest of the funds.

Paul is telling us here that much like a trustee in a bank, we have been entrusted with the rich treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is important for us to understand how God would like us to distribute (or model and proclaim) this treasure to the world. Trustees in a bank are supposed to be above reproach and of high moral character. The same is said of followers of Jesus Christ.

Along with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are also entrusted with the mysteries of God. God’s Spirit lives in our hearts and impresses upon us the things he wants us to do in this world. Some of these things, the world will not understand, or will make no sense to them. This is because they are not an all-knowing and all-seeing God who has plans for us that are beyond our comprehension.

I have had the opportunity to take some pretty big risks after being called by God to do so. In the process of taking these risks, I had some tell me that I was being foolish. But God makes the “foolish-by-the-world’s-standard” decisions of his followers turn out to be the definition of wisdom in the end. This is, in part, what Paul is talking about when he talks about the mysteries of God.

One of the most important jobs of a trustee is to remain faithful to the instructions they’ve been given regarding the treasure they are managing.

Have I been a faithful trustee of The Treasure? I have been given a relationship with Jesus Christ. How have I faithfully shared this with others? How have I served as Jesus would serve and spoken as Jesus would speak? How have I loved as he would have loved others?

Lord, thank you for this challenging passage that also describes the great responsibility we have as followers of Jesus. We are not called to coast, we are not called to take it easy. Instead, we are called to be faithful trustees of The Treasure of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Teach me, Lord, to be more faithful and more diligent in executing your plans for the salvation of many in this world.