Friday, March 22, 2013

The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ

(Seed Sowers Christian Book Publishing House. http://www.seedsowers.com/)

Friday, March 22, 2013      My Final Words About the Kingdom 

Part 2: Parable of the Three Servants 

Page 250-251         Matthew 25: 14-30

Today we read the parable of The Three Servants. Some translations of the Bible may refer to this as the parable of The Talents. That can be a bit misleading as the word talent connotes to us something to do with skills and abilities. In Jesus’ time, the word translated talent was a unit of measure of money, roughly the amount a laborer could earn in fifteen years. However, the three servants were not judged by their master for how they used their particular abilities to care for his property. What then was the master expecting when he returned?

In Jesus’ story, the master was away for a long time. Jesus is saying that it is important to God how I live my life, and thus this parable is yet another reminder that Jesus’ invitation to come into the Kingdom of God is an invitation to willingly submit to the rule of God in my life each and every day. When I consider the whole of the Gospel that we have read so far, I see continuity in Jesus’ invitation to come and live under the reign of God. I am again hearing echoes of the Sermon on the Mount: “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand” (Matthew 7:26).

This parable also emphasizes that ultimately, the only important thing in life is what I believe about the character of God. If I believe God is generous, gracious, loving and faithful, I will then embrace the Gospel as truly Good News and joyfully enter into the Kingdom of God. However if I see God the way the third servant perceived his master, I then believe God is an evil task master, tough and uncaring, and like that third servant, my destiny would be to live out my life in fear.

As we seek to live under the reign of God, waiting for our Master to return, we will encounter challenges, big and small. Sometimes these challenges can be life altering. Henry Blackby, in his book, Experiencing God, says these challenges in life are always accompanied by a crisis of belief because how we respond to the challenges reveals what we truly believe about the character of God.

Every action God takes is motivated by His great love for us and our relationship with God has been established by the faithfulness of Jesus. The promise of God is that He is using every circumstance in our lives for His good purpose of transforming us to become like Christ. (Romans 8:28-29) Although it may take us a good deal of time to understand how God is using certain circumstances for good in our lives, nevertheless, God is at work in us. (Philippians 2:13) Our challenges in life may be different, but the reality of God’s love for us is unchanging.

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

The second edition of my book, First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGQL5JC

The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ

(Seed Sowers Christian Book Publishing House. http://www.seedsowers.com/)

Monday, March 25, 2013   My Final Words About the Kingdom 

Part 3: The Final Judgment    

Page 251-252         Matthew 25:31-46