Now, before anybody gets to stirred up about the title, let me give this disclaimer: I believe that there is nothing greater, more satisfying, or more rewarding then seeking a lived out, working, moving, changing, Holy-Spirit-birthed knowledge of the King of the Universe. BUT, I believe the Bible warns us that there is indeed a point in time where our knowledge of God actually becomes a bad thing - if you can, take some time to read Luke 19:11-27.
Read it? Awesome. If you've read anything else I've written, my first blog - "Use It or Lose It" - used the last two verses (Lk. 19:26-27) to talk about the importance of having an active faith and obeying, not just hearing and learning, the word of God. Well, not to be too redundant, but this little blog is over a similar subject, but one that has become increasingly dear to my heart.
The story is pretty simple: a man has three servants. He goes off to a distant land in order to be crowned king, and gives each of his servants some money. One servant earns an extra ten minas, one an extra five, and one doesn't invest at all and only gives back what the king had given him. This makes the king pretty angry, so he take away the mina that servant had and gives it to the obedient servant with ten dinas. The first two servants got the reward of becoming rulers over cities in the king's empire, but this last servant was put to shame and not given anything.
So what does it mean? Well, the King is Jesus, and we're the servants. The amount of money we invest is how well we use what the Lord has given us on this earth - do we invest it? Take risks? Steps of faith? Dare we take the chance to lose the life that the Lord has given us in order to gain even more? Or will we hide our lives and live selfishly? Safe? Wisely? Not really. "For whosoever shall seek to save his life will lose it."
But what I find most interesting about this entire passage is the response of the foolish servant, look at verses 20-23:
"The another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap waht you did not sow.'
His master replied, 'I will judge by your own words you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out wat I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn't you put money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'"
Whoa! Look at what the servant says: "Because you are..." The servant attemted to excuse his laziness and disobedience by saying he KNEW the King. How often do we, as servants of the King, do this today? We claim that we know God and who He is, the "God of the Word."
We say that God is a God of promises.
So why don't we live like He'll keep them?
We say God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So why don't we trust Him.
We agree that without faith it is impossible to please God.
So why don't we base our lives around faith?
We say that there is none righteous but our Lord.
So why do we try to achieve perfection on our own?
We say that He is strong though we are weak.
So why do we rely so heavily upon our own means?
Can't we see? A knowledge of God becomes a bad thing when we know it, but don't believe it. We take the name of our Lord in vain when we claim to be his bride, yet profane his truth with our own ideas of how life should be lived. The Bible says that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man - so why don't we stop relying on what we can "figure out" about the Lord, and start just trusting in what he says? When we get into heaven and see Jesus face-to-face, he will ask us something like, "What did you do with the life I gave you?" How will you respond?
Like servants one and two: "Jesus, here are thousands or hundreds or tens of other souls that I witnessed to, here is a life obedience and faith. I suffered and struggled, I had little upon the earth, but I trusted you, and you always provided. Because of you, my life has become a walking testimony, and now there are many more souls in your kingdom."
Or like servant three: "Well, Lord, I knew you were a God of the harvest. So I kept my soul safe and locked away, so it couldn't be corrupted or stolen or lost. I knew you valued my life to die for it, so I decided I would live it to the fullest and stay safe!"
Which servan really knows the heart of the King? Truly, "The heart is decietful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?" Who would want to?! This day, let us lay aside what we think we know, and start focusing on where are hearts are with the Lord, where our lives actually line up with what we say we believe - with what we think we believe. Like the old song goes:
Trust and obey
For there is no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Amen.
