In yesterday’s reading, we learned from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24 that instead of obsessing over exactly when the Day of Judgment will arrive, we should remain on the alert for Jesus’ coming. And the first thirteen verses of Matthew 25 underscore this teaching, urging us to be watching for Him, longing for His return. Well, in the Parable of the Talents, Jesus tells us an important way in which we should prepare ourselves for His coming: by busying ourselves with the work of His Kingdom. In fact, Jesus makes it clear that we are to devote all that we are and all that we have to Him.

And it doesn’t really matter how much we have – how much money, how many abilities. The man who started out with two talents receives exactly the same reward as the one who started out with five. Therefore, we are not to give ourselves over to envy or jealousy, comparing ourselves to one another, or lamenting how little we have to offer.

Instead, we should consider that all our possessions and our abilities, however great or small they may be, come from God and thus ultimately belong to Him. After all, even the unfaithful servant admits this in verse 25, when he says to his master, “Here, you have what is yours.”

So, what was it that made the unfaithful servant so hesitant to work for his master? It wasn’t his jealousy of others, and it wasn’t a delusion that he was not in fact a servant. It was his defective view of his master. He didn’t want to work for someone he considered to be a hard, unfair man who takes what doesn’t belong to him. And if that’s how we see God, then we won’t want to work for His glory, and we won’t long for His coming, either.

But how can we possibly believe God is hard and unfair, knowing instead that the Father graciously forgives and welcomes all who trust in Christ? How can we believe God is a thief, knowing as we do that He gave up His only Son so that we might be saved? Surely God is not only worthy of our affection but of our devotion. Surely He deserves all our efforts to serve Him and bring Him glory.

And if we love Him with all we are and all we have – with all our heart, and mind and soul as well as with all our strength – then we can look forward to the greatest possible reward at His coming: to enter into His joy, to be in the presence forever of Someone Who loves us so much.

Jesus is coming. Are you ready?

Matthew 25:14-30 (NASB)

14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them.
15 “And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
16 “Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.
17 “In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
18 “But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
20 “And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me; see, I have gained five more talents.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’
22 “The one also who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted to me two talents; see, I have gained two more talents.’
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.
25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed.
27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
28 ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
29 “For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
30 “And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.