Are you betting on it?

Jesus tells a story about a master heading out for an extended vacation. Before he leaves he gives three of his servants a little cash to invest while he is gone. Each servant is given an amount equal to their ability to properly use that amount to please their master. One gets five talents, another two and the third receives one. The first two go our and start wheeling and dealing and in no time have doubled the master's money. The third is too afraid to take a chance and decides the best investment strategy is to dig a hole and bury the money.

After a while the master returns and has a meeting with his servants to discuss his portfolio. Servant one and two are pleased to announce how well their strategies worked and handed over the master's fortune. The third however was able to muster only excuses as to why he did nothing but hide the gift he had been given. Can you imagine what Jesus had in mind when He told this story in relation to a discussion about His future physical return to earth some day?

I don't think He was trying to fill some more space in His Father's best seller. He wasn't trying to play tricks on His hearers or obscure the real meaning. No, I believe Jesus hit the proverbial (pun intended) nail on the head with this one.

True disciples keep reading, the rest of you can go ahead and look at more pictures on Facebook.

OK. What does Jesus mean by this parable. Simply put He teaches (and warns) us that He is coming again and He expects us to have done something with a gift He has entrusted us with. We will not have any excuse as to why we haven't done what He desired of us; we will only have a time of eternal accountability. So I leave you with a couple of questions.

First, what gift are you aware of He entrusted to you and how are you using it to grow His kingdom?

Second, are you ready for His return and the accounting that follows?

Third, is Matthew just pulling our leg or is Jesus serious about this giftedness thing?

Fourth, have you correctly chosen to "Enter into the Joy of the Master" or do you rather like being considered a wicked and evil slave?

Yeah that was more than a couple of questions but we should be more concerned with the choice we now have to make. Need help? Drop me a line and let's work on it together.