Matthew 25:21 “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!’”

I have no idea how many times I have quoted this verse, because hearing it said to me by my Lord is my ultimate goal in life. Countless messages have been preached on this parable of Jesus, including by me, but it’s still worth noting the major points. The first is that the Master entrusted things to his servants on equal terms, “to each according to his ability.” God knows what we’re capable of, and He doesn’t give us more than we can handle. It is reported that Mother Theresa said, “I know that God will never give me more than I can handle, but sometimes I wish He didn’t trust me so much.” The second point is that the entrusting was complete; there wasn’t a “big brother” mechanism to breathe down their necks to see if they were behaving themselves. God is aware of everything we do, but He isn’t a task manager, leaving us as robots. Free will is real, whatever it might feel like. The third point is that the reward for faithfulness was equal, regardless of the starting point. The servant who started with two talents got exactly the same commendation as the one who started with five. The point here is not quantity, but the faithfulness itself. And the fourth point is that God rejoices when we are faithful. These men were told to enter into their Master’s joy, not some separate joy. The theme of our readings is The Joy of the Lord. Most of them seem to deal with it as the joy that He gives to us, but here, Jesus is saying that we enter into His joy. We can hardly imagine what that is, because it is qualitatively as well as quantitatively different. After all, our Lord is infinite! All He asks of us is faith and faithfulness, and the faith is a gift from Him. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

I don’t know how long ago it was that I realized that this commendation was my ultimate goal, but it’s been many years. I thankfully have had good examples, starting with my parents, and their parents before them. Those are mighty big shoes to fill, in the faithfulness area! I feel like God over-gifted me in a way, with verbal and mechanical and musical gifting. At least He didn’t add sports on top of that! Looking at all I started with, I sometimes question my level of faithfulness. I have to be satisfied with doing as Paul did: “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4:3-4) That said, I’ve also got to remember what he said immediately before that: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (verse 2) All my life, various things have been easy for me that other people couldn’t do, or did only with difficulty. That led to my being lazy, and that’s certainly not a good thing. I have learned the hard way the truth of the adage, “Use it or lose it.” I was once the concert master of the 25^th Infantry Division Band, but I haven’t picked up one of my clarinets in years, and I don’t know what it would sound like if I did. I have a large vocabulary, but I just had to look up how to spell “adage!” I have no idea how I will be judged, but I know my gracious, loving Lord, and I entrust myself to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Faithfulness is really all You ask. May I recognize my own tendency to unfaithfulness and in all humility receive Your grace, that is all I need. I do desire to be faithful to You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!