Some facts of life.....

Luke 19:11-28

While Jesus had the people's attention, and because they were getting close to Jerusalem by this time and expectation was building that God's kingdom would appear any minute, he told this story: 12 "There was once a man descended from a royal house who needed to make a long trip back to headquarters to get authorization for his rule and then return. 13 But first he called ten servants together, gave them each a sum of money, and instructed them, 'Operate with this until I return.' 14 "But the citizens there hated him. So they sent a commission with a signed petition to oppose his rule: 'We don't want this man to rule us.' 15 "When he came back bringing the authorization of his rule, he called those ten servants to whom he had given the money to find out how they had done.16 "The first said, 'Master, I doubled your money.' 17 "He said, 'Good servant! Great work! Because you've been trustworthy in this small job, I'm making you governor of ten towns.' 18 "The second said, 'Mast  er, I made a fifty percent profit on your money.' 19 "He said, 'I'm putting you in charge of five towns.' 20 "The next servant said, 'Master, here's your money safe and sound. I kept it hidden in the cellar. 21 To tell you the truth, I was a little afraid. I know you have high standards and hate sloppiness, and don't suffer fools gladly.' 22 "He said, 'You're right that I don't suffer fools gladly--and you've acted the fool! 23 Why didn't you at least invest the money in securities so I would have gotten a little interest on it?'24 "Then he said to those standing there, 'Take the money from him and give it to the servant who doubled my stake.' 25 "They said, 'But Master, he already has double . . .' 26 "He said, 'That's what I mean: Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag. 27 "'As for these enemies of mine who petitioned against my rule, clear them out of here. I don't want to see their faces around here again.'" 28 After

  saying these things, Jesus headed straight up to Jerusalem.

Food for thought!

The parable of the king and his servants illustrates certain great facts of life.

(i) It tells of God's trust. He gave his servants the money and then went away and left them to use it as they could and as they thought best. He did not in any way interfere with them, or stand over them, like a big brother. He left them entirely to their own devices. That is the way in which God trusts us, all of us. Someone has said, "The nicest thing about God is that he trusts us to do so much by ourselves."

(ii) It tells of God's test. As always, this trust was a test, of whether or not a man was faithful and reliable in little things. Sometimes we under estimate the importance of being faithful in the ordinary things of life. God has not. It is precisely in these routine duties that God is testing us. There is no example of this like Jesus himself. Of his thirty-three years of life Jesus spent thirty in Nazareth. Had he not discharged with absolute fidelity the tasks of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth and the obligation of being the breadwinner of the family, God could never have given him the supreme task of being the Saviour of the world.

The confidence to achieve great things springs from successful achievement of smaller tasks. What this means is that we must begin with small successes before we get big ones. We must learn to swim in bigger ponds by mastering small ones first. You can't succeed at work if at home you are a failure; normally a bad husband or wife is always a bad executive at work. Success begins at home.

(iii) It tells us of God's reward. The reward that the faithful servants received was not one which they could enjoy by sitting down and folding their hands and doing nothing. One was put over ten cities and the other over five. The reward of work well done is more work to do. The greatest compliment we can pay a faithful person is to give him or her ever greater and harder tasks to do.

(iv) The parable concludes with one of the inexorable laws of life. To him who has, more will be given; from him who has not, what he has will be taken away. If a man plays a game and goes on practicing at it, he will play it with ever greater efficiency; if he does not practice, he will lose much of whatever ability he had. If we discipline and train our bodies, they will grow ever fitter and stronger; if we do not, they will grow flabby and lose much of the strength we have. If we really strive after goodness and master this and that temptation, new heights of goodness will open to us; if we give up the battle and take the easy way, much of the resistance power we once possessed will be lost and we will slip from whatever height we had attained.

There is no such thing as standing still in life. We either get more or lose more of what we have. In life, we either go forward or go backwards; we either go up or we go down.