Jack and Alice Corbett Stay Connected with the Corbetts! The other night I woke up at about 3 am and had trouble falling back to sleep, unfortunately this has been a fairly regular occurrence the last few weeks. The difference this time was that for some reason, my mind was fixed on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Here’s quick synopsis of the story:
A man has to go away and entrusts his stuff to 3 servants. To one he gives 5 talents (a sum of money in Bible times), another he gives 2, and he gives the third 1 talent. Each servant is given an amount that the master believes they can handle. The first two servants go out, invest the money that has been entrusted to them and double it. The third servant buries what he has been given because he knows the master is tough and is afraid to invest the money for fear of losing it. The master returns and calls the servants in to account for what they have done. He praises the first two who have wisely invested the talents and then disciplines the third servant, even taking the 1 talent he was given and giving it to the servant who had 5 talents and turned them into 10. The point of the story is summed up in verse 29:
"For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (ESV).
Here’s what I was thinking that night/morning. Am I properly "investing" what God has given me?
I think this was on my mind because we are halfway through our 4 year commitment with NTM, and as we shared when we did Partnership Development, our goal is to transition to Career membership with NTM as long as we are financially able. We knew when we made the move to Florida that our current support and savings would allow us to fulfill the 4 years, but to continue beyond that we believed that we would need some more support. As I have contemplated that, I have had to consider my financial and time management habits, especially since I have procrastinated on continued Partnership Development efforts. I can certainly make a case that there isn’t much wasted in our regular spending and that time-wise our priorities are good. The problem lies in that I make that case in comparison to other people, not God’s standard, and His standard is much higher than mine or any other person’s.
So how does God think I’m doing? Are there areas I can do better? What am I going to do about those areas?
What about you?
More to come on this later.
Tags: Bible Study, Devotional
