LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 25:23, “His lord said to him. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”

 

When thinking about this verse, my thoughts went back to the first year I coached girls’ basketball at a private school in the city.  They had girls’ basketball for only a year or so and only a few girls participated, many of those had little or no experience. That year we played as independents because the school was not in any official league. Toward the end of the season, we were invited to play in a Christian league’s post season state tournament.  The team had been steadily improving and some how we won the state title. Honestly, that was a surprise; it was a great time. We all enjoyed hearing the congratulations and enjoyed the celebration of our accomplishment!

 

The verse from Matthew comes from what is known as the Parable of the Talents. The parable reminds us that our place in heaven depends on the faithfulness of our lives and service to the Lord in this life.  “A talent represents our abilities, time, resources, and opportunities to serve God” (LSSB). The parable tells us that the size or the amount you and I are entrusted with is not the issue. The issue is our faithfulness to use what He gives us to honor and glorify Him. He gives us talents as a trust that we will use them in the wisest possible way. Read the entire parable and you will see the rewards God gives for faithful service to Him are abundant, beyond the talents He gives us.

 

Why would He do this? He wants to use the talents He has given us to help our faith in Him grow deep within us and to help His Church mature on earth. The parable shows that the Father is not concerned by the money each servant earned; the value came from their faithfulness in applying what He had given them.

 

I have to say it was pretty special hearing the congratulatory comments after winning not only one but two state championship titles in this league. But I can only imagine what it will be like to step into God’s kingdom and hear the words of the Lord welcoming us into heaven. There must not be any misunderstanding that these words will be spoken from anything but His grace! You and I can do nothing on our own to overcome sin. Tony Dingy states it this way, “ I can remain faithful and stay on course as best I can, knowing that Christ will present me to His Father as “blameless” and “without a single fault. I will strive to show Christ’s love for me through my compassion for others and my faithfulness to Him, even though I know my attempts will always fall short.” That is God’s grace toward you and me!

 

So, we strive every day to walk the best we can on a narrow way that leads to eternal life in God’s Kingdom knowing that one day we will stand before Him and hear the words, “Well done!”

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.