Faithful Stewards

In 1 Corinthians 4, the Apostle Paul describes ministers of God as servants and as stewards. Then in verse 2, he says that the qualification of a steward is that they must be found to be faithful or trustworthy. Faithfulness is judged against the absolute standard of God's faithfulness, so no man will be perfect. But what matters is consistency in the things that matter to God. That is why Paul goes on to say that true faithfulness is not judged by man--God is the judge. Only God knows the motivations and intentions of the heart, and it is God's praise that servants should desire rather than the praise of men.