SCRIPTURE:
““Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.
I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’”
“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 25:24-25, 29
OBSERVATION:
Jesus is telling the parable of the three men and invested treasure not belonging to them.
Jesus uses money and stewardship to describe what the Father bestows on His children who worship Him.
And now with Jesus present it is to become what the followers of Jesus, do with that which they know; salvation in Christ and the message of hope to all.
It takes work. It takes time. It takes risk of rejection. It takes some of ourselves to invest in others to let them know there is hope in God through Jesus.
But the account at the end of the story asks the simple question; what DID you do with what the Master entrusted you to profit?
APPLICATION:
I was moved by this story, which I’ve gone over time after time, but today I was struck by the words that Jesus used when the master was displeased with the “zero return” on his investment to the steward.
He said “…to those who do nothing.”
Salvation in Jesus is for ALL. It is a free gift from God to assure us of an eternal hope and future with Him.
What we DO WITH IT determines the eternal return on investment, the ROI, that God expects from us.
Yes. Expects.
It’s easy to think that we get saved and just mosey along through life idly, and wait to die. We can go to church and listen for an hour then make our way back to the 6 days and 23 hours that belong to us.
We can even watch a few religious programs. Tune our radios to K-LOVE once in a while. Maybe go to a church movie night or picnic.
But how much did we EXPEND of ourselves? How much “free time” did we USE to SERVE OTHERS?
How much RISK did we take to actually SHARE of our HOPE to other people that we know are not saved?
All these are factors of which the Master will DEMAND of us when it’s all said and done, and He will expect a return on the investment He makes in all of us.
If we did NOTHING, we are that servant who buried that which was given; buried in self-doubt, buried in pride, buried even in busy-ness of serving self. And that returns the Master, nothing.
The time is drawing nearer every day.
The Master waits for His servants to report on how they utilized the gifts, call, and mandate on the believer.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be afraid or motivated, but I’ll say it’s probably both.
Help me to get my lazy bones up and at em, and sow into the harvest. Forgive me when I get tooo idle! Amen.
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