A Prayer to Live Faithfully

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, 21.

Jesus tells a story known as the parable of the talents.

In it, he describes a master who was going on a trip, called his servants together and entrusted them with some of his wealth.

Verse 15 tells us, to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.

A talent is a unit of currency that was worth roughly 20 years wages for a laborer.

Today, the amount distributed to these three servants would be equivalent to around $2 million.

The first two servants invested their talents and doubled what their master gave them.

The third servant took his talent and buried it in the ground.

When the master returned, he settled accounts with them.

To the first two servants who invested and doubled their talents, the master said, 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, 21 and 23.

He says the exact same thing to the first two servants.

Both received the same praise and the same promise.

What the master receives back from them is not what is important to him.

What is important is that each of them was faithful with what they had been given.

As the story wraps up, the third servant presents his original talent and the master expresses his disappointment.

This servant had made his decision in fear, and it did not pay off.