Faith On Deposit

He said to him, "By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?" (Luke 19:22)

Risky investments can reap big returns. The parable is told to tell us that the Lord values the investment He makes. And even though the story is about a financial investment, the focus is not on money. So often we think about what is familiar within our culture. So when we are materially successful as a believer, its easy to get pulled into the trap of being focused on being a good steward of the resources God has blessed us with. That is surely a principled belief. But God does not give us wealth to hoard. He expects us to put it to work. But I don't think financial investment is what Jesus is primarily teaching here. Before He tells the parable, the gospel writer tells us why He told it. He told the parable about a kingdom that was coming...and how the coming king's subjects were to conduct themselves until the king returned. Do business...with this...until I come... All the servants heard the same message. All the servants were given the same amount of resource...one mina. Upon the king's return one servant multiplied the mina and produced ten. One produced five. And one produced...well...none. He presented the same mina, wrapped up and hidden away in a handkerchief. Two out of three produced returns on investment. One broke even. Or did he? This slave who had hoarded th mina was unprofitable. Worthless is the king's description. I think the mina represents a measure of faith that the Lord gives to each of His servants. It is deposited within us and He expects we do business,Kingdom business, with it. The fruit of the Spirit is to be developed only because He has deposited this measure of faith within us. Like a garden, the more it is cultivated and nurtured, the greater the harvest will be. Some disciples produce in differing degrees and some disciples never seem to produce at all. They never demonstrate any works of faith or mature into fruitful disciples. These are the ones who have kept God's gift locked away, covered up and hidden from view. Could it be that the reason they do is because their understanding of God is as flawed as the unprofitable slave's view of the king? God is no more an exacting, or hard, master than the king in the parable. Unfaithful, or unprofitable, disciples may use that as an excuse for their lack of production. But the truth is that the more we study the word of God, the more we will know that our King is kind and compassionate and even enables us to bear fruit and produce returns on His investment. What the Lord is doing with us, slaves of Christ, is investing Himself in us. In the story, each servant reported the return to the king and stated that the mina was the Master's mina. Interesting to see that that even though the one-mina man did not please the king, he was not destroyed. But he was not rewarded either. When King Jesus returns, He will want to see a return on the deposit of faith He left with each of His slaves. Faith is not given to us so that it be kept hidden away in a handkerchief. Faith is to be boldly invested in a world of faithless people. Faith is to be invested to do business for the Kingdom of God. When the Lord returns, I do not want to be a one-mina man. I want to be one who shares in the joy of reigning with our King. I would like to hear that I have done well as a faithful slave, trusting the King to help me do business with what He has entrusted to me. Faith on deposit produces returns when it is put to work. Are you working out your faith in a faithless world or have you locked it away in a risk-free environment? Faithfulness produces more than fearfulness.