Good and Faithful Servant
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”
In the parable of the talents, Jesus Christ used the analogy of a man (representing Christ) going to a far country and leaving his servants in charge of his great wealth. “A talent was a large sum of money, about six thousand denarii. A denarius represented the day’s wage for a typical working man” (Nelson’s NKJV Study Bible, note on Matthew 25:15).
He gave this money to the servants based on their abilities: five to the first servant, two to the next and one to the third.
The first two servants understood their master’s expectation that they make use of the money to gain more while he was away. They both doubled what they had been given, and received that wonderful welcome that all Christians long to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
By doing God’s work and growing in Christian character by obeying God in this life, we can be preparing for whatever job Christ has for us in the Kingdom of God.
But we must not be like the lazy servant who buried his talent in the ground and accused his master of being unfair. If he was only capable of investing the money in the bank, he should have done so. But he did not treat his master’s command with respect, especially if he thought the master would demand more when he returned!
We, too, must use whatever talents are given to us to prepare ourselves for the time Christ returns—when we meet our Master.
For more about the growth God is looking for, see the articles in the section about “Christian Conversion.”
