“Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21

Yesterday, our text was the Parable of the Talents. The story is this: A man is getting ready to go on a journey so he entrusted his property to three of his servants. To the first servant he gave about $2,000,000 (in today’s money). The second servant, he gave $800,000, and the third, he gave 400,000. He gave no instructions or expectations of what to do with the money, nor did he give a time frame of when his return would be – just that he would come back.

Both the first and second servants invested the money and doubled the amount. The third guy wanted no part in it, so he just buried the money and walked away. The owner eventually came back. He was very pleased with the two that doubled his money. But the guy that buried his money was in big troubled. To make matters worse, this guy tried to blame the owner for his behavior and basically talked himself into hell. The owner gave him no grace for his choices that he had made. In his return, what was done, was done.

Jesus is talking to believers and just because each of us who claim that we are Christians doesn’t give us an automatic entrance into our salvation. There will be a judgement day and we will be held accountable for our actions. But while it seems easy for us to want to judge that third servant for burying his gift that the owner gave to him, I believe that it is very easy for each one of us to slip our feet right into those shoes. Each of us can easily talk ourselves out of just about anything if we really want to – at least I know I can!

But here is one think I also know…To experience Jesus Christ in my life changes everything! It changed who I am and what I am. To know and understand what grace really is and how it frees my soul and gives me the opportunity to live a life that is truly life, is something that can only be experienced – not something that I can explain to you. But once experienced, nothing else matters in the world – not your family, not your job, not even your own life. Only Jesus Christ and the love, mercy and grace that he gives matters and even makes any sense and has meaning.

I give God thanks and praise for the people of God that He has entrusted to me to love and care for in this place! I love them with all my heart. As a servant of Jesus Christ, I have been given grace upon grace, in which a price tag cannot hold – and I promise that once received, it is impossible to bury that grace and keep it hidden!

I wonder if that is what Jesus wants us to understand when we read these parables. At first reading, they seem so scary…weeping and gnashing of teeth. But when we know the love of Christ – “You knew, did you? (v.26) and have experienced that love, then we know exactly what we have to look forward to – not to mention, that once experienced, we cannot get enough of seeing Jesus in our lives and will do anything and go anywhere to see Him and be with Him!

And then on the Day of the Lord, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant!”