God Speaking

“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.”

(Matthew 25: 21)

One mother was sharing about a camp her young son had been enrolled in during the summer and how impressed she was with the way the camp instructors dealt with rewards for the many physical activities the children competed in. Her son was not specifically an athlete, but loved the camp as everyone was recognised for what ever enthusiasm they displayed while participating in all the games. He came home on the last day, very proudly bringing an award. When his mother opened the envelope, a beautiful certificate was inside;

Participation Award

Our sermon last week was on the parable Jesus told about the talents in which the master who is going on a journey, entrusts three of his servants, each with a certain amount of money and entrusted his property to them Each had a different amount, one received five talents, one two talents and the last servant one talent. At first when we read the first two servants are praised for doubling the master’s money, but the third punished for just hiding his to keep it safe, we feel this seems to be unjust until we look at the deeper meaning Jesus wanted to convey.

Although the amount of talents was different for each servant, there was no difference in the reward for the first two who had diligently used the money to benefit the master. The third servant had not put in any effort, merely hiding his money in the ground, not benefitting anybody.

This story made me think of the little boy’s award of wholeheartedly participating in every race, even though he may not be in first place. The first two servants received the participants reward just like the little boy.

Our spiritual walk with the Lord is similar. Our master entrusts us with his wealth and all that is his. We can be active participants using whatever gifts that the lord has bestowed on us or we can bury our gifts and lose that beautiful acknowledgement

Well done good and faithful servant.

The writer of Hebrews describes life as a race and urges us to run it with enthusiasm.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12: 1)

Perseverance seems to be the key word for us to note. It is with confidence, not a stop and start walk with the Lord, we make a commitment to participate to the best of our ability, not measuring our efforts with those around us but focusing our eyes on Jesus. As Paul writes:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4: 7)

Let us eagerly pursue that great Participants Award!