His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
Matthew 25:21Matthew 25:21
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
21 “Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”
WP-Bible plugin (also 23)
The above Scripture is taken from the parable of the talents as recorded in verses 14-30 of Matthew 25. If you are familiar with the story, you know it accounts the positive results of faithful service to the Lord, as well as the penalty for a lack of productivity on God’s behalf. If you have never heard the account, I recommend you read the sixteen verses in their entirety.
I have had the incredible privilege of knowing many faithful servants of the Lord in my life. When I was a child I met a missionary to Papua New Guinea, whose passion and devotion to reaching that country with the Good News of Jesus Christ was inspiring. She came and spoke at our church and even invited my family to her home for dinner one evening. I was probably no more than 10 years old when I met her and heard her stories of serving Jesus on the foreign mission field, but her love for God left a lifelong impression on me. I still remember her name to this day, Ella May Sliker.
When my father was a pastor in a small community up north when I was 12, I remember a dear servant of God named Alta Hartman. She was one of the first people I ever identified as a “prayer warrior.” She lived all alone in a small apartment in this obscure town in the middle of Southeastern Michigan. Every time I accompanied my dad to her humble abode, she would offer us something to eat or drink, and she would ask about our family and the church so she could pray very specifically for those who were special to her. She had lived the largest part of her life prior to my meeting her, but even as the winter of her years intersected the spring of mine, I was impressed upon by her faithfulness to God.
Throughout my teenage and college and early adult years, I’ve encountered humble servant after humble servant in the Lord’s Kingdom. School teachers, church custodians, pastors, missionaries, musicians, single moms, husbands and wives who’ve been married for more than six decades, professors, personal friends, the list is long and detailed of all the faithful servants of Christ I have been privileged to know. My life is still replete with relatives and friends who serve God faithfully every day. Their lives have been and still are very productive for the Lord and my life has been enhanced in knowing them.
These wonderful people have seen the power of God at work in their midst. Part of their reward for faithful service has been getting to witness lost and wayward souls come to salvation and redemption in Jesus. They have seen marriages restored, relationships healed, addictions overcome, and a host of other transformations that God has orchestrated through their obedient sacrifices. They have also produced a legacy of subsequent generations of faithful servants to Christ, who continue to partner with the Holy Spirit to this day to foster more transformation.
If you were to sit down with any of these faithful servants, and ask them why, why they chose to use their lives to serve Jesus with their one and only life, here’s what I think you’d hear.
There is no reward known to man that is more valuable, more worthwhile, more important than finishing one’s work on earth and hearing their Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your Master’s happiness!” WOW!! Who wouldn’t want to hear God, our Master, say those words to them when we breathe our last breath and stand before Him at the crossroads of eternity? Those words are the prize! That sentiment from Almighty God to His servant are the goal!! They are the ambition for which we all should be aspiring, to please God with all that we are and all that we have so that He will acknowledge us as His good and faithful servant and share the reward of His happiness with us forever!!! We should do everything solely to please our Master. Period.
When I am done with my work here on earth, when this solitary life is over, I have one thing I want to hear more than anything else, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.” Both Ella May and Alta, as well as many other faithful servants I’ve known, have already heard those words uttered to them and are experiencing the eternal happiness and joy of the Lord in His presence even now as you’re reading this. They continue to receive the never ending reward for their faithful service to God.
The alternate ending for a life lived without God, is an eternity spent without Him either. That is the ultimate penalty for the ultimate rejection. I don’t want anyone to experience that, so I must strive to serve God faithfully all the more with each day He gives me.
I thank the Lord for all the faithful servants He has blessed my life with, and I pray that I will be found faithful to Him and a blessing to others as well.
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