“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.’”
Matt. 25:23
Remember the parable about the talents in Matt. 25:14-28? God gives His different servants different numbers of talents, expects them to invest the talents wisely, and later, upon His return, rewards them accordingly. As we’ve pondered this parable, we sense that what is acknowledged and rewarded in heaven may be quite different than our perceptions of what we think God will acknowledge and reward. ~~For example, most of us regretfully esteem certain believers higher than other believers based on our personal perceptions of their “ministries” (inside and outside the church proper).
Think on this equation a minute:
· Person A grew up in an amazing believing family, lived a fruitful life honoring God, was given 50 talents, but only used 32 of the talents God entrusted to him.
· Person B grew up in a hellhole, was abused and unloved, yet found Jesus, was given only 5 talents, and used 4 of them very effectively.
· Who do you think gets larger eternal acknowledgement and reward?
We speculate that it may go down something like this at the judgment seat:
· “Esteemed Person A” did much with what he was given (but missed a lot too) and is rewarded accordingly.
· “Unesteemed Person B”, despite all odds
o found Jesus,
o overcame his past
o did what he was created for with what he was given…
o his faithfulness is noted and his eternal reward is abundant…(perhaps more abundant than “Esteemed Person A”! ~Matt. 25:23)
As we Clearys seek to understand God’s heart better, we find that we are falling in love with the difficult people in our lives more and more, and we are not as quick to judge. (~~Perhaps this difficult person is an “Unesteemed Person B” and that we are evaluating them on an “Esteemed Person A” scale!)
~~God trusts us with His divine wisdom to the degree that we know His heart. The key is to draw near to Him so that we understand His heart more and more. Deception happens when we don’t seek to understand the true heart of God, but choose instead to embrace our ideas about the heart of God and our own feelings.
It’s not easy, but it’s so worth it. Will you join us in the challenge this week?
Much love,
Shaun and Betsy
