Verse of the day: Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
I often hear Christian express a desire to hear these words spoken about them on the day we stand before the Lord to be individually judged for how we served our God (Judgement Seat of Christ; 2 Cor 5:10). In reality, how many of us will actually hear these words said about us? What was the Lord commending in His servant that warranted such praise from our Lord and Savior? In this parable, a master goes on a journey, and leaves talents (money) to his servants to be stewards over. Upon his return, two of his servants double his money, and one servant chooses to hold on to the talent he was given, producing nothing extra for his master. To his two servants who doubled what their master left them, this proclamation was made to each, while the servant who held on to his one talent was scolded, cast out, and his talent given to the servant who double his five talents. Each and every one of us has been given many things to be stewards over; money, time, talents, abilities, gifts. What are we doing with all that the Lord has blessed us with? Are we hording what we have been given? Are we using what God has given us to bless Him by being a blessing in the life of others? Are we using our gifts, talents and abilities to be an encouragement, and serve, within the body of Christ? Far too often, we as God’s children, fail to be a blessing because we fail to trust God to completely take care of us (Matt 6:25-34). If we believe that God cares for us, we will cast our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7); and thereby be able to make ourselves available to carry each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2). How do we use the time we have been given? We are reminded in Scripture that we are to redeem our time, walking in wisdom (Eph 5:16). Is the majority of our time used doing something that will expand the Kingdom? Are we witnessing, encouraging others, and using our time to minister, spend time in prayer, and study of God’s Word? How about our talents and abilities? Are they simply being used to make a living or are we using them to make a difference for the Gospel? So often we have talents or abilities that not only will earn us a living, but will also be a blessing within the church. Sadly, we often only use them to earn a living, make overtime, and rob time from our family and the church for the sake of making more money that is often wasted on things that have no eternal value. One of the greatest robbers of our willingness to multiply our talents and abilities is that we spend way too much time comparing ourselves to others, and end up feeling inadequate to serve. We compare our preaching, teaching, singing, and abilities, to others and decide that God cannot use whatever bit of talent we have. In this parable we see that God rewarded each one, not by how many talents they had, but by how faithful they were with whatever talents their master chose to give them. God is the One who has chosen to give us whatever talents, abilities, gifts or riches, He saw fit to give us; and He will judge us not only based on what He gave us, but more importantly on what we did with it. In Luke 12:48 we are told that to whom much is given, much will be required. So whether we are given much and double it, or given less and double it, we stand on equal ground to hear these words spoken to us by our Lord and Savior. The worst thing we can do is not do anything. The bottom line is that regardless of what God has endowed us with, we need to stop comparing ourselves to others, and just focus on what God has entrusted us with, and simply serve Him with all that is within us, trusting Him to lead us and accomplish what He desires with what we give back to Him. Remember, the Lord can take whatever little we give back, and make much of it, just as He did with the loaves and fish (Matt 14:18-21).
We will all stand before the Lord, either at the Judgement Seat of Christ (for believers to receive reward) or the Great White Throne Judgement (for unbelievers to receive punishment for their unbelief). The choice is ours today. If we choose to call upon Him, He promised that if we believe that He died to pay for our sins, repent, confess, and call upon Him, in faith, we will be saved (Rom 6:23; 10:9; 13).
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