In Matthew 25:14ff, Jesus tells the Parable
of the Talents. Before leaving for a
journey, a wealthy man entrusted his wealth to three of his servants. To one he gave 5 talents, to one 2 talents
and to the third one talent. When he
returned after a long time, the first servant had put the money to work and
gained 5 more talents, the second had done the same and also doubled the wealth
he had been entrusted with. To each of
them the master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I
will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21)
But the third servant had been afraid he
would lose what the master had entrusted to him and so had hidden it in the
ground. When the master returned he gave
the one talent back to him and the master said, “You should have put my money
on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it
back with interest.” (Matthew 25:27)
Jesus was not providing investment counsel
with this parable, although it is good advice for that area of life. Rather, He is talking about that with which
He has entrusted His servants when He went on His long journey to heaven. In the time between Jesus’ return to heaven
after the resurrection and His second coming, He has entrusted to us, His
servants, the responsibility of taking care of His kingdom. What will we do with it? Will we bury what we have received to protect
it so that no one can take it from us?
That is a fortress mentality that would argue for Christians to get out
of the world and live in isolation to keep from being affected by the
world. But to take that attitude would
be to greatly disappoint the Master!
Jesus doesn’t want us to be isolated to
protect what we have, but to be bold in using it to affect the lives of
others. We are to invest what He has
entrusted to us so that it will produce a great return.
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment