FAITHFUL SERVICE

Matt. 25:28-30  “…Take the money from that servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold.  To those who do well with what they given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.  But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.  Now throw this useless servant into utter darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus had used this parable to drive home a very important truth, we will be held accountable for what we do for our Lord on earth.  In this parable a king had gone away for a spell and had given to three of his servants varied amounts of money to see what they would do with it.
     One of the things we notice about these servants is that had been given equal opportunity to do good with what they had been given.  The king knew each one well enough to know what they were capable of and had given them an amount of money appropriate to their abilities.
     Two of the three servants proved to be faithful with what they had been given and doubled what they had been given for their master.  The third servant had done nothing with what he had been given.  He squandered his opportunity to do good and had nothing to give back to his master but what had been at first given to him.
The Lord gives us eternal life and entrusts us with gifts so that we may bear fruit for Him.  We are not saved to sit idle and wait for death or His coming.  We are to use our gifts and talents, whatever they may be, and do much good for the glory of God.  We are to impact souls for our Lord.  We are to help others any way we can to help them come to a saving knowledge of Him and surrendered lives to Him.
      When we are faithful in our service to Him, the Lord richly rewards us.  Our rewards are reserved for us in heaven.  We may or may not be blessed with earthly goods, but we do know that God will honor our faithfulness to Him in heaven.  To those who do nothing with what they have been given and are unfaithful, God will judge them and hold them accountable.  Our text suggests that they will miss out on heaven altogether.
     The message seems to be clear, those who are genuinely children of God will produce godly fruit in their lives.  If there is nothing that shows evidence that a person is saved, they are not, no matter how much they may proclaim it.
Are you faithfully serving the Lord?  Are you doing what you can with what you have been given to bring honor and glory to Christ?  Do you love Him enough to want to do good for Him?  There is no room in heaven for spiritual deadbeats.