Faithful

From the parable of the three servants told by Jesus to illustrate the kingdom of heaven, we see a master who goes on a journey and entrusts his wealth to his servants. He entrusted them with different responsibilities, and expected them to be faithful with what had been given to them.

The parable highlights being faithful with whatever we have received. Two of the servants were faithful to what was entrusted to them. The other servant received money as everyone else did, in proportion to their ability to make profit, but fear led him to hide his money rather than invest it.

So, it wasn’t what he did that made his master angry, but rather what he didn’t do. The master asked, “Why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? (Matthew 25:27). Although he hadn’t lost the money, or given it away, he had wasted it by burying it.

Has fear led us to bury what we should be investing? In the parable, each servant was given according to his ability. Are we utilising that which has been bestowed on us, and our full potential, to bring about increase and growth in God’s Kingdom?

Sometimes we might think being faithful with what God has given us is not a big deal, but according to this parable we can see that our faithfulness really matters to God. The servant may have thought he hadn’t done anything wrong, and didn’t deserve his punishment. He justified himself by saying he still had what had been given to him.

But we were created and entrusted to do good works. ‘We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ We were created with a purpose for our lives. Living in this purpose is living a meaningful life. May we use well what we have been given, in proportion to our capability. Then even more will be given to us and we will have an abundance.

In the end, when we stand before the Lord, I believe He will say, “This is what I gave you, and this is what you have done with it. So, well done, good and faithful servant.”

There is a reward for being faithful and that is to dwell with the Father in eternity where there will be no sorrows and no tears, as we share in His joy.