It's time to be faithful!

The consistent theme of my church-going today was the parable in Luke 19, when this guy of noble birth gave a few servants some [minas] old school money, and said to them, "Here, I'm giving you this, now, go and put this money to work until I come back." The Nobleman returns and each servant had done something with the minas; from gaining far more than they'd originally been given, to hiding their minas away because for fear they wouldn't succeed at the task; therefore, not even trying. The Nobleman then rewarded each according to their work for him, the faithful ones gaining great authority and reward; and the unfaithful one being scolded and having the mina he had possession of taken away and given to a faithful one.

What I am gathering from all of this is this; God has given each of us a very specific set of gifts, skills, talents, etc. to use to expand the Kingdom of Heaven. The choice to invest in these things is completely up to us though. The more that we would sow into each thing, the more we would get a return on...so to say. It makes perfect sense actually; and this parable is so clearly parralleling our lives in Christ. I want to invest and take risks on things God has given me, to expand the Kingdom of Heaven. It's time to be faithful. It's time to begin getting returns on all that we're pouring out our lives over in all of this, and not because we want a return, but because we hunger to pour out all we are for the sake of God's name. We need to get hungry for the things of Heaven and begin pulling them down here on earth, and living like we mean it.

Blessed is he who regards the interests of the Kingdom of Heaven as paramount to every other interest in the world, paramount to his own personal interests. Blessed is he whose interest in life, whose interest in the world is only used to extend the interest of the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed is he who has lost his own identity as an individual and has become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. blessed is he who sees the Kingdom of Heaven as the ultimate, to be possessed. --John G. Lake

It's time to get hungry and it's time to be faithful with what God has already given us to work with.