Give Food at the Proper Time

Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Matthew 24:45

As a believer who serves the Lord, my status is that of a slave. As a slave, I must be faithful in my service, and prudent in the way I serve. The Lord has his household, His church with the saints. My responsibility as a slave is to serve the saints and seekers with healthy spiritual food, the word of God.

From my side, I must be serving as a slave. A slave has no right of his own. Whatever the Master says, he must do, at any time in any condition. To be a faithful slave I must be ever ready to serve whenever the need arises. If there is a call, I must attend to it immediately at that time. This is to give food at the proper time. In addition to faithfulness and prudence, serving at the proper time is equally important. The best time to feed is when one is hungry for food. If timely food is not dispensed, a belated meal will be of no good. This is an important spiritual lesson to learn.

Yesterday, I was in my office trying to accomplish a task. I was determined to finish my work at all cost, and it was about 7 'O clock in the evening. Then I received a phone call from a brother requesting me to visit him immediately at about 7 PM. The matter was that there was a seeking sister who wanted to know more about Christ and the church. Though I decided to finish my work first, the Lord reminded me of my need to be a faithful and diligent slave. I have no right of my own to say "no" when there is a call for shepherding of a needy soul. And the call also was related to giving spiritual food at a proper time. Therefore, I shut down my computer, left my works undone, and visited the brother.

The Lord had arranged a home meeting with three new ones. A gentile visitor, to whom I preached the gospel and led him to the Lord, and two other seeking sisters who are in need of fellowship were present in the meeting. The Lord burdened me to shepherd them using the words of the Bible. They both are believers, the daughters of a reverend who passed away already. Due to their family situation, they have been working in Gurgaon to make a living. For many years they have been living in a strange city, away from home, toiling to make a living, and in the process, have gone far away from the Lord. They have not been having any Christian fellowship with anyone as they are fully occupied with their jobs. Sundays being the busiest day, they hardly could have fellowship with another fellow Christians too. They are like the diaspora of Israel in a foreign land. 

Now that we met and fellowshipped, they felt very comforted with the word of God. After fellowshipping on the need for the Lord's presence in our daily lives and works, the need to come to the word of God daily and in prayer, and the need for fellowship as the church, I prayed, and also requested each one of them to pray. When the two sisters prayed, they both were in tears, asking forgiveness for their wandering far away from God, and yet at the same time thanking the Lord for recovering them back to a fellowship. I was deeply moved in my inner being. The Lord remembers who are His'. And I must be a faithful and prudent slave to give food at the proper time to the Lord's lost sheep and bring them into the flock.

Had I not listened to the brother's invitation and decided to finish my own official work, I would have missed shepherding these seeking sisters. Now, they decided to come together weekly for a regular home meeting. They also expressed their desire to fellowship in the church. May the Lord recover them all!

What a subjective experience of shepherding! What the Lord has been speaking to His churches, He also led me to experience it right away. May the Lord grace me to be a faithful and prudent slave, to give food at the proper time.