'A Hard Man?' - Matthew 25:24-27

"Then the servant that got one bag of money came to the master. The servant said, 'Master, I knew that you were a very hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not put any seed. So I was afraid. I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is the one bag of money you gave me.' "The master answered, 'You are a bad and lazy servant! You say you knew that I harvest things I did not plant, and that I gather crops where I did not put any seed. So you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back. And I would also get the interest that my money earned.'"

—Matthew 25:24-27

Key Thought
Fear is such a debilitating and limiting emotion, especially when it comes to God. Yes, we must approach God with reverence and awe. Yes, we must realize our insignificance in the face of his greatness and majesty. Yes, we must acknowledge our sinfulness in the face of his holiness. But, God has called us and adopted us into his family. He has made us his children and given us his Spirit to live inside us. Our relationship to God must be based on a reverential and respectful fear, not a debilitating and cowardly fear. Just as God supplied Moses to lead the Israelites with power he did not know he had, so he will supply us with power if we will seek to serve him with boldness for his glory and not our own! We must not be slaves to fear.

Today's Prayer
Holy and Most High God, you alone are worthy of my worship, my love, and my awe. No one and no thing compares to your grandeur and majesty. I am humbled and exhilarated that you have adopted me into your family and have beckoned me to call you my Abba Father. Please cast all fear out of my heart and fill it with your all sufficient and mighty love. I want to bring you praise and your people your blessing without fear and without hesitancy. To the glory of and in the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord and King. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context
"{The kingdom of heaven is} like a man leaving home to travel to another place for a visit. Before the man left, he talked with his servants. The man told his servants to take care of the things he owned while he was gone. He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. The man gave one servant five bags of money. He gave another servant two bags of money. And he gave a third servant one bag of money. Then that man left. The servant that got five bags of money went quickly to invest the money. Those five bags of money earned five more. It was the same with the servant that had two bags of money. That servant invested the money and earned two more. But the servant that got one bag of money went away and dug a hole in the ground. Then the servant hid his master's money in that hole. "After a long time the master came home. The master asked the servants what they did with his money. The servant that got five bags of money brought five more bags of money to the master. The servant said, 'Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of money. So I used your five bags of money to earn five more.' "The master answered, 'You did right. You are a good servant that can be trusted. You did well with that small amount of money. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.' "Then the servant that got two bags of money came to the master. The servant said, 'Master, you gave me two bags of money to care for. So I used your two bags of money to earn two more.' "The master answered, 'You did right. You are a good servant that can be trusted. You did well with a small amount of money. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.' "Then the servant that got one bag of money came to the master. The servant said, 'Master, I knew that you were a very hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not put any seed. So I was afraid. I went and hid your money in theground. Here is the one bag of money you gave me.' "The master answered, 'You are a bad and lazy servant! You say you knew that I harvest things I did not plant, and that I gather crops where I did not put any seed. So you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back. And I would also get the interest that my money earned.' "{So the master told his other servants,} 'Take the one bag of money from that servant and give it to the servant that has ten bags of money. Every person that uses what he has will get more. That person will have much more than he needs. But the person that does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him.' Then the master said, 'Throw that useless servant outside, into the darkness! In that place people will cry and grind their teeth {with pain}.'Matthew 25:14-30

Related Scripture Readings
That is the way we know that we belong to the way of truth. And when our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. Why? Because God is greater than our heart (conscience). God knows everything. My dear friends, if we don't feel that we are doing wrong, then we can be without fear (have confidence) when we come to God. And God gives us the things we ask for. We receive these things because we obey God's commands and we do the things that please God. This is what God commands: that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and that we love each other. This is what he commanded. The person who obeys God's commands lives in God. And God lives in that person. How do we know that God lives in us? We know because of the Spirit that God gave us. — 1 John 3:19-24

— Rom. 8:14-17

We know that we live in God and God lives in us. We know this because God gave us his Spirit. We have seen that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. That is what we tell people now. If a person says, "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God," then God lives in that person. And that person lives in God. And so we know the love that God has for us. And we trust that love. God is love. The person who lives in love lives in God. And God lives in that person. If God's love is made perfect in us, then we can be without fear on the day when God judges us. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like him (Christ or God). Where {God's} love is, there is no fear. Why? Because God's perfect love takes away fear. It is {God's} punishment that makes a person fear. So {God's} love is not made perfect in the person who has fear. — 1 John 4:13-18

Ⓒ 1996-2017 Heartlight, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in part or whole for commercial use without written consent. What Jesus Did! is written by Phil Ware. Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.

View the full article