Faithful

In reading the teaching of the Lord in Matthew 25 there is a very striking and serious portion that catches our attention. It is the parable of the talents in vv. 14-30. In this parable, Jesus is teaching concerning His next coming and He is instructing the men who will be left to instruct the church concerning remaining faithful until He returns.

The portion that is the desire of every true Christian is the following:

Matthew 25:19–21 (NAS): 19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
20 “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

That moment, that time, when each child of God is commended by Jesus Christ for being faithful as He was faithful when faced with responsibility is to live for and to die for. There is tremendous hope in the fact that even though many around us simply don’t understand why we believe in Jesus Christ and why we live our lives under His lordship, we are reminded that He understands. Indeed, He is the Author of that faith and hope (Hebrews 2:10; 12:2).

The sense that we would abandon that hope, the hope of the praise that Christ gives His faithful servants, is not in the mind of the faithful servant. That surely does not mean that he is perfectly faithful and is never distracted. However, his habit and behavior consistently is that of remaining faithful to his Master Who entrusted His resources, and His will, to him.