A season of increase

Boxing Day is here.  And you know what that means.  It means that soon, the orgy of excess food and consumerism will be over.  Not for another week mind you - we still have  New Year celebrations to come.  But soon.

If you are like most, you received at least one gift this Christmas.  If you are like most, between today and this week you will buy something else for yourself.   I did.  Hey, Best Buy was open at 6am!  

Christmas (and the Christmas season) in our culture is about increase.  Our increase. That got me to thinking about increase in general...

That God expects His Kingdom to increase forever is clearly laid out in the Scripture.  Isaiah 9:7 comes to mind, “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.” So we expect His Kingdom to increase, because God cannot be thwarted.   

But did you realize that He also expects increase from us in the meantime?  The parables of the minas (Luke 19:11-27) is often preached on as a parable of stewardship.  Recall that in this parable, a nobleman called 10 of his slaves and gave them a mina each, telling them, “Engage in business until I come back.”  On His return as King, “he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.”  We so often read that and assume that the point is to be a careful steward of what God has given us.  Rightly so, because it does speak to the principle of stewardship.  Yet Jesus taught it, “because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.”  The point being that Jesus did not want those around Him to misunderstand the Kingdom of God.  He was not going to be crowned in Jerusalem -  He was going to be crowned in heaven and would return later.  We ought to understand that the parable speaks not so much about earthly stewardship but rather more to what He expects US to do with that which has eternal value.  What we have is temporary and burns up.  God is not concerned with that.  What belongs to Him is eternal.  God is very concerned about that!

Note that the nobleman called 10 of his slaves.  Not ALL his slaves.  There was a deliberate choice there, just as there is with us who have been chosen of Christ to receive eternal life.  We have this life – a clear gift of Him, and clearly of eternal value.  Will we use it to gain others (for Him), or will we use it selfishly for ourselves only? 

One of the slaves returns with 10 more minas.  One with 5.  Both receive eternal reward in proportion to their efforts.  But the one who didn’t ‘earn’ more has his mina taken back.  The implication for our lives is huge.  Are we investing our lives into others to win them for the Lord (that they might have eternal life also)?  Or are we pouring into ourselves and failing to reap the harvest all around? 
         “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.”

Just something to think about.

Think hard.