Today's Reading: Matthew 25: 14-30
**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read Matthew 25: 14-30
Bible Study
With the question of whether we are ready or not in the previous two passages, here we come to one of the two conclusions of Jesus final teaching. They are about our final examination and how we can pass our final examination.
This passage is about whether we know that we are only stewards or slaves , God is the master. How well do we use the money and other resources God has given us is the question we have to be accountable in our final examination.
N.T. Wright says:
The scribes and Pharisees had been given the law of Moses. They had been given the Temple, the sign of God's presence among them. They had been given wonderful promises about how God would bless not only Israel but, through Israel, the whole world. And they had buried them in the ground. They had turned the command to be the light of the world into an encouragement to keep the light for themselves (5: 14-16). They had been worthless slaves. And, now, when their master was at last coming back, he was going to call them to account. The threatened destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was to be seen as the master's punishment on the servant who had not done his will.
The emphasis of the parable falls, again and again, on this third slave, the one whose folly fails to respond to the master's generosity. Who then are the other two, those who respond appropriately to the master's trust?
They are, it seems, those who hear the call of Jesus and, on that basis, develop what Israel has already been given so that it now becomes something new. They are like the mustard seed in 13:31-32, which starts small and then grows large. They are the signs that God's kingdom is starting to bud and blossom. And now, when Jesus has come to Jerusalem to force the final confrontation between God's kingdom and the system that had resisted and opposed it - then those who are loyal to him will be like those who have made wise use of the money that had been entrusted to them.
So, how well are you using God's money and other resource? Do you think you can pass your final examination when it comes?
This passage is about whether we know that we are only stewards or slaves , God is the master. How well do we use the money and other resources God has given us is the question we have to be accountable in our final examination.
N.T. Wright says:
The scribes and Pharisees had been given the law of Moses. They had been given the Temple, the sign of God's presence among them. They had been given wonderful promises about how God would bless not only Israel but, through Israel, the whole world. And they had buried them in the ground. They had turned the command to be the light of the world into an encouragement to keep the light for themselves (5: 14-16). They had been worthless slaves. And, now, when their master was at last coming back, he was going to call them to account. The threatened destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was to be seen as the master's punishment on the servant who had not done his will.
The emphasis of the parable falls, again and again, on this third slave, the one whose folly fails to respond to the master's generosity. Who then are the other two, those who respond appropriately to the master's trust?
They are, it seems, those who hear the call of Jesus and, on that basis, develop what Israel has already been given so that it now becomes something new. They are like the mustard seed in 13:31-32, which starts small and then grows large. They are the signs that God's kingdom is starting to bud and blossom. And now, when Jesus has come to Jerusalem to force the final confrontation between God's kingdom and the system that had resisted and opposed it - then those who are loyal to him will be like those who have made wise use of the money that had been entrusted to them.
So, how well are you using God's money and other resource? Do you think you can pass your final examination when it comes?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: How to pass your final examination?
What I got from Jesus today is the question he will ask for our final examination. I still remember when I was in high school I liked to guess what would be the questions in the final examinations. Why? So that I did not need to prepare everything. But, most of the time I guessed it wrongly. Say if there were ten questions, I prepared only seven of them thinking that the other three won't be in the examinations. Then, the worst situation was that all three I did not prepared were the only questions on the paper of the final examination. I still had bad dreams about that horrible event!
So, now we know the question of our final examination of our life. How well are we going to prepare for that. The question is that, first you need to know that you are just a steward, servants or slave. The money and other resources you have do not belongs to you! Second, do you keep that yourselves or to use those money and resources for your master. If you understand that and are willing to change your attitude about your money and other resources, then you may have a chance to pass with a flying color in your final examination.
So, now we know the question of our final examination of our life. How well are we going to prepare for that. The question is that, first you need to know that you are just a steward, servants or slave. The money and other resources you have do not belongs to you! Second, do you keep that yourselves or to use those money and resources for your master. If you understand that and are willing to change your attitude about your money and other resources, then you may have a chance to pass with a flying color in your final examination.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be ready for our final examination and that we can pass the examination with flying colour. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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