Do You Trust You?

The trustworthy servant is the one whom the master puts in charge of all the servants of his household; it is the trustworthy servant who not only oversees all the work, but also ensures the servants are properly fed and cared for. And it is, of course, crucial that a servant who is given such responsibility performs his responsibility to his master’s standards—so when the master returns he finds his trust has been rewarded. For then the master will put that good servant in charge of all his possessions. But imagine that the master’s trust was misplaced, that the supposedly responsible servant is actually a thief who says to himself, ‘My master has been gone so long, he is not possibly coming back.’ Then he beats his fellow servants and dines and drinks with drunkards. Well, when the master returns—as certainly he will—the servant will be caught unawares. The master will return on a day and at an hour when he isn’t expected. And he will cut his worthless servant into pieces and throw him out into darkness with the hypocrites, where there is weeping and grinding of teeth.
Matthew 24:45-51 The Voice

Excerpt from one of Brian Hardin’s commentary on Daily Audio Bible.

When the Master comes back, He’ll catch that servant unprepared. It’ll be a surprise because the servant thought, ‘He’s never coming back, so I guess this place is mine now.’ The Master will come when He’s NOT expected and it won’t go well at all for the servant. This isn’t the first time Jesus told a story like this. So it’s a pretty important story to Jesus. Obviously, we can very easily read into the story and say, ‘Okay, I am the servant and this shows me I need to be vigilantly prepared for the imminent arrival of the King.’ So, let’s do an exercise…

The King has many properties – much belongs to the kingdom. So He’s put His individual servants in charge or responsible for many different domains. If we’re the servant than what we steward is what we’re in charge of. So often, we DO behave as if ‘you know, maybe He’s coming back – maybe He’s not, but I have to manage what’s mine in the meantime’, as opposed to understanding that we’re a servant – and NONE of it is ours. We are simply invited to be vigilantly on guard over the Master’s things and people.

So look at your life. What are you responsible for stewarding? Your home, your spouse, your children, your relationships, the work of your hands, the harvest of your life, the use of your gift or gifts and talents. In some cases, that is what you create physically in this world and in other cases, it’s what you create in establishing shalom - wholeness between people and inside relationships.

So here’s the REFRAME – or the big question: If you were God, would YOU trust YOU? That is worth some time today. That is worth some careful consideration – inviting the Holy Spirit into that question. Are you vigilantly guarding - as a resource of the Kingdom - your relationship with your spouse? With your kids? With the decisions you make about your financial resources? With the decisions you make about your home or job or are we living as if He is NOT coming back?

… Jesus is giving all this narrative and it comes down to this story which does what Jesus always does – cut through the crap, throw up a mirror and force us to look at it so that we are exposed. NOT to shame us; we don’t really see Jesus shaming anyone. He is willing to confront… [so we can be different].”

(end excerpt)

So, if you were God, would you trust you? If not, let’s get on our knees, repent, and actively, deliberately, intentionally make the choices to BE trustworthy, so that when He returns, He will find US faithful.

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for loving us so much that You will confront our sin with Your Truth. Do a deep work, an eternal work on our hearts this day, O God. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen