What kind of servant are you? Perhaps the more important question might be – What kind of servant do you want to be? If the two don’t match, maybe it’s time to make some changes.
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus speaks a somewhat lengthy monologue/teaching about what his followers can expect and should look for about the last days. As I read through that chapter this morning, I couldn’t help but wonder why more of Christ’s followers seem to be forgetting the “map of ending events” that Jesus foretold, and seem to be falling for the predictions and interpretations of man. Could this be the “false prophets and false teaching” that is intended specifically to target and deceive many people? It certainly appears likely to me. In these last chapters of the gospel, we find that Jesus is really intentional and appears to be speaking much more directly to his disciples than he had been before. He knows that his time is limited here. He is not unaware of this timeline. The Father has not hidden it from him. And so Jesus is preaching and teaching in a very focused way, and his followers are still a bit confused. They hear the words. They probably even value them. Yet they don’t seem to really understand or know what to do with them.
As can sometimes happen to me, even as I am writing this devotion, I had a recent experience that I can somewhat relate to Jesus’ sense of urgency. Just days ago now, I went to visit my aunt in the hospital. She had been fighting hard to stay alive and survive a fall with congestive heart failure. Her numbers were all a mess – she was in bad shape. Yet she was still fighting. Then things changed. Her heart was no longer the only part of her body not working. Her liver shut down. Her kidneys were shutting down. Her days were numbered and she knew it. It was then that even her interactions with us became so important. Urgent. Things that my aunt may have been thinking but had not been said before – needed to be said. In fact, she was so determined to make sure that she didn’t miss the opportunity to express them – she would state them to us almost as soon as we would walk in the door to her room.
Such is the urgency I believe Jesus felt. He knew he still had valuable things to teach and say – and not much time left to say them.
And so, Jesus begins telling those still around him about the last days. He is preparing them, as he is preparing us through those same words, how to identify truth. He warns of those who would deceive. He tells us how this world as we know it will end, and what will happen to mankind. Truly a gift. Hopefully a gift we open, receive, and value.
Sometimes I think that because there is a number marking a new chapter, we assume that Jesus’ teachings were chopped up – or somehow less related than they likely were. Yet it is in the same – end of his earthly life – that Jesus tells a story in the following chapter of Matthew (chapter 25) about 3 servants. Each servant was given talents. Not the same amount of talents – but talents.
To be clear, we are talking about talents as money – resources. Not gifts and abilities. I do believe that you could use the same type of principle Jesus is teaching here to apply to those talents as well – but that isn’t what Jesus is specifically teaching here. He’s talking money. Out of the three servants given resources, two of the three invest it. They recognize that what they have been given isn’t theirs, it was just something that had been entrusted to their care – and so they sought to invest it into things/people that mattered to the King. The third servant didn’t. Interestingly enough, he was also the one who was given the least. I wonder if the King suspected that this servant would struggle? I wonder if he had seen something – some pattern of living prior to making the gift that prevented him from entrusting him with more? What I do know, is that the King still gave to him, and sadly, this servant did nothing but hoard and hide what was given.
Jesus tells the story and then says: “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 25:29)
What kind of servant are you? Do you hoard or do you give? Do you view what you have as yours, or are you just the steward of it? Do you look for good investments – not to turn yourself a profit – but the King one?
What kind of servant do you want to be?
Make the two align.
You see, we don’t have infinite time. We don’t. Our days have a number. Our choices hold kingdom consequences – both good and bad. Let’s stop wasting time.
LORD, help my life to bring you honor and glory. Help me to use the resources you’ve given in the way that you would have me to. Give me eyes to see the needs of others. Give me a heart that is softened to your prompting. I trust your wisdom and not my own to guide me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Blessings.