A Life God Rewards....

Today's title for our devotional time is the name of the book that my Sunday School class is studying. It  was written some time ago by Dr. Bruce Wilkerson and in my mind, it is a timeless study, rooted in God's word of how we are to work for the glory of God while we lay up for ourselves, Treasures in Heaven. In fact, it is often a course of study that may divide those of us of faith as to how we are to be rewarded for our good works and how to read and ingest what the Bible has to say about such things.

One Scripture that helps bring this matter to better clarity (at least for me) is found in the Gospel according to Matthew in Chapter 25, verses 14-30. Here Christ, in the Parable of the Talents, is sharing with his disciples just days before He will be arrested and tried before Pilate exactly what He will expect from them when He is gone. He lets them know that in no uncertain terms that He expects them to take the "talents" that He has left with each of them and, based on their God-given abilities and bent, to magnify and multiply them for the Kingdom of God...and He lets them know that He will one day return for a "full" accounting of what they did and how well they did it!

If you know this parable you know that it has both a happy and a bittersweet ending...the entrance into the "joy of the Lord" for two of the servants that used their talents wisely and for gain for the Master...and the sad "casting out into the outer darkness" of the lazy servant that just hid what he was given and brought no return to the Master.

Maybe, that third servant is you today. You find yourself in a tight situation and you look at who you are; your talents and resources.... and in your heart and mind you have already decided that you will  not be able to give much of anything back to the Father. You fight the shame and the hopelessness that you will be cast out; however, IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO PUT YOUR TALENTS TO WORK FOR THE LORD SO THAT YOU TOO MAY EARN THE PRAISE OF THE ONE YOU SERVE...."WELL DONE, MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT; ENTER NOW INTO THE JOY OF YOUR MASTER."

Why do I say that it is not too late...because you're still here....alive, breathing and waiting for God to point you in the right direction to do good works for Him and multiply Himself in and through you. 

If you can breathe, YOU CAN LOVE! If you can see, YOU CAN GO! If you can trust, YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES YOU STRENGTH....AND GOD WILL GET THE GLORY!

Make today the day you step up and out in faith to do the Father's will and to put your time, talents and abilities to work for God....there's still time to earn that praise from the Master and to count your life a success for eternity....it's just a matter of faith!

Here's the rest of the story in poetic form in the next post.

WPQ