God’s Hope for Your Heart from Matthew 25
JESUS WANTS YOU TO BE YOU
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, “Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:22-23)
It’s a simple story, like many that Jesus told.
In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells a parable about a man and his three servants, one to whom he gave five “talents” (a sum of money), another to whom he gave two talents, and a third who received one talent. He went away and returned to find that the first two had put his money to good use and had earned more, while the third did nothing at all.
The focal point of the story is on the man who did nothing with his master’s money, and had nothing to show for himself when the master returned. However, step back and look again at the character who gets the least press time, the servant with two talents.
Here’s what the master does NOT say to the two-talent man. “You earned two more talents? Why couldn’t you have gained five like the other servant did?” “Two talents only? Why can’t you be more like the first servant?”
The master didn’t ask the second man to accomplish what the first one did, only to accept responsibility for his own task. He didn’t measure the two-talent gain of the one against the five-talent gain of the other; he congratulated and rejoiced over them in exactly the same way.
Jesus doesn’t want you to pursue someone else’s results, just be faithful with what He’s given you.
Jesus doesn’t want you to compare your output with someone else’s, just maximize your own.
Jesus doesn’t want you to try to be someone else, which is a good thing because it always fails.
May you rest in this today, that if Jesus had wanted you to be someone else, He would have made you them instead of you. He made you unique for His purpose, and you will find hope as you rest in this truth: Jesus wants you to be you.
-Pastor Phillip
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