What do we expect from the LORD...
Mercy; grace; love; forgiveness; patience; gentleness.
And we should expect his lovingkindness.. But do we expect His righteousness and his justice?
Do we expect or even prepare for His judgment?
I've been convicted lately as I've been evaluating my life and examining my actions. In a critical eye, I fall into the category of those who will "depart from" the LORD and the kingdom of heaven. I am saved and sanctified by Christ and his actions, not by my actions. However, when I examine who I am with the same critical eye that I judge business deals, politics, and friends/family I do not measure up or fulfill the requirements of a servant of God. I've accepted the culture and social status of being a SON OF THE MOST HIGH, and have become complacent.
Read Matthew 25:14-30.
That's what it comes down to. Am I an evil servant or a honorable servant? It's that black and white for Christ, so it must be black and white for me. It's easy to determine. What and who do I honor every day? Me? My TV? My computer? My agenda? Los Suns? The Cardinals? My clothes? My house? My job?
Do I spend multiple hours researching my favorite sports teams? Do I spend multiple hours glorifying my sports teams watching their games for 2 or 3 hours? Or spend an hour praising my favorite TV show? Or reading up on the current political and social changes locally and globally in order to what- serve others or argue with people that disagree with my opinion and prove my superior intellect and wisdom?
Do I spend this same time glorifying God and His work? Or do I glorify myself?
What have you done with the talents God gave you? Buried it in the ground so you can pursue your own interests or worked to increase the Lord's possessions?
3 comments:
25:31-45
I think one of the flaws of our culture is that we can readily accept God who is all loving but we have a hard time accepting God as a righteous judge. I think it's part of the way we adapt God to fit our own plans, as long as a God is all loving I can freely pursue whatever idol interests me. By removing judgement, we no longer say that God is righteous and by removing righteousness we are essentially saying he isn't God. Until we give both attributes to him we can't establish Him as Lord of our lives.
25:14-30
I’ve always had difficulty with this parable, almost as much as I used to have with the older brother in the two lost sons. “How is this fair? The master never said to invest what was given only that he entrusted it to them. Why is the third slave then blamed for this? Wasn’t he only preserving what his master gave him? What about the first two slaves? What if their investments had gone horribly awry? Would the master still have commemorated them for risking his investment?”
I think what you’ve said has definitely revealed a lot more within this parable that I haven’t seen before. Looking at it more from it’s allegorical perspective in which God has blessed us with resources beyond our need, not only in physical gifts but in the strength of the spirit. We’re then called to invest in the kingdom of heaven. With this understanding it is reasonable how the third servant could be called wicked and slothful. He completely lacked the fervency in the spirit to serve the lord. He had no passion in expanding this investment for the kingdom. By throwing GOd’s investement in a hole in the ground we never see this expand to all areas of our lives and our unable to comprehend the sovereignty of God that works through our resources to pour out blessing unto others and turn them to Christ. Jordan, I think you completely understood how easy it is to throw our investment in the dirt in order to pursue earthly pleasures (Suns vs. Lakers), and how our effort to glorify God and His work with our time and resources pales in comparison.
Yes, let us work to increase the Lord’s possessions.
Jordan, I love you.
Skype me.
Cheers,
Connor
The kingdom of heaven is like... I love these words as it givces insight into a difficult concept to understand.
You are right on. First problem, we let our culture and other people define who God is. We rarely try to experience Him firsthand and attempt to serve him. Not serve him like help out at church or go on a mission trip, but worship Him in spirit and truth. Application, applicatoin, application. Like you said in context to investments. We invest in all types of stuff, and since we see the money, energy, or time as ours when we invest it, we are eager to reap the earnings. However, we need to approach life realizing that what we do have is the Lord's and that the earnings are his and that He will come for them some day.
I return to my bread and butter. Job 1:21.
If we are to be true servants of God and not rejected by Christ with the "I never knew you" line than we must be prepared to do as Gal 2:20 says or what Phil 2:5-11 highlights.
Hebrews 11:13-16
I must make a switch between advocating my rights as a US citizen, world traveler, philosopher, and recognize I am a stranger to this world. That I am a sinner. That Jesus died and rose again that I might be with the Father forever. My citizenship is in Heaven. When was the last time I cried out against the social injustices, often self-inflicted, to a person's soul?
This is how I will increase the Lord's possessions.
How will you apply it?
Scary Jesus freaks, scary.
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