Verse for Today

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The One-Year Bible - 7 February 2012

Readings:
Exodus 26:1 - 27:21
Matthew 25: 1-30
Psalm 31: 1-8
Proverbs 8: 1-11

Matthew reading: The passage known as "The Parable of the Talents" is another of those parables that seems inherently unfair, and one could easily come to this conclusion were it not for the words of Jesus: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like ...".

But it brings to mind a conversation that I was having with my son James this morning.  He is quite strong academically, having narrowly missed out on being granted a scholarship at Maritzburg College but has nonetheless been placed in their "top stream" in his grade.  So without wanting to sound boastful, good grades are something that we have come to expect from him.

And he rarely disappoints ... except for last term.  The marks themselves were good, but that was not the point.  The point was that, by his own admittance, he had cruised a little and not done his very best.  I indicated to him that it was not whether he had got a 60 or an 80.  If 60 was his absolute best, I would be happy with that.  However, if 80 did not represent the best he could do, then it would not be good enough no matter how high the mark may be.

This, I believe, is the point of this parable.  Each servant was given sufficient amounts of money to invest, according to their abilities.  The master knew what each servant was capable of, and thus differing amounts were doled out.  Note also that the master was equally pleased with the returns of the servants who were given ten and five pieces of silver respectively.  Yet he was not pleased with the third servant - not because there was no return, but because he had not even made an attempt.

God does not expect us to do beyond that which we are able.  God only expects us to do our best.  WE are not expected to do more than our best, but God also does not expect us to do less than our best, either.

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