“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘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!’
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘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!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” (Matthew 25:14-30 NIV)
It is final exam week on campus where worry and stress are as common as the sound of Christmas songs in the stores. And, as is my habit, I remind students that worry is a sin (Matthew 6:25) and that if they are following Jesus, then He should make some difference in how they handle the stress of college life.
It is so easy to call ourselves Christians or followers of Jesus. It is so easy to say we love Him and want to do His will, but the truth to these declarations is proved by how we conduct ourselves in the everyday things of life. How do we treat our roommate or the server at a restaurant? How do we handle commitments we have made? Do we follow through or do we ignore them? How do we handle conflict with others? Do we hold a grudge or do we seek reconciliation?
Like a book contains many words and pages, life is made up of a myriad of small choices and actions. The sum of its parts defines the whole. However, we often fail to recognize this. Instead, we focus on the whole (I’m a Christian; I love Jesus) and ignore the fact it is the tiny parts that truly define it.
This is why I so often mention worry to students. If they are truly followers of Jesus, then, come exam time, how they approach these tests should be very different from their peers who claim no such allegiance. If they believe in Jesus, then what real difference does He make?
It is a question we all should ask and seek to answer with sober examination. As I once heard it asked: If we were put on trial for following Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict us?
In this parable, Jesus emphasizes the Kingdom truth that our faithfulness in the everyday things of life, the opportunities we are given to be obedient, demonstrates our true commitment to Him. All were considered servants, but it is what they did, the choices they made, that proved their faithfulness.
Today, recognize being faithful to Jesus is not proved by your declarations, but rather by your obedience in the daily situations of life. For it is in these that you accumulate the evidence for your faith that can one day lead to hearing these words from the Lord: “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!”
© Jim Musser 2015
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