The Path of Life

Background: my mother and daddy
Foreground: my Rebecca (L) and niece, Tamara (R)
1984

"Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling a few things...Come and share your Master's joy!" (Matthew 25:21)

You know the story. Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives when the disciples came to Him privately with burning questions. In Matthew chapter 25, through parables, Jesus describes to them the kingdom of heaven. 

You may recall the "parable of the talents" (talent = a unit of coinage) in verses 14 through 30—the story of a master who gives three servants various amounts of money before going away for a long time. 

The story concludes with two of the servants doubling what was given unto their care and receiving the praise and reward of the master. The third servant accuses the generous and kind master of being a hard, harsh man and admits he did absolutely nothing with that which was entrusted unto him. This lazy man was then cast into outer darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If you view the parable as a moral tale about how we should spend our money or use God-given talents, it makes no sense that the third servant is punished so severely. However, if you listen, really listen, to this parable through the filter of a description of the kingdom of heaven, where God rules, reigns, and has all authority, then you discover the point of the story is not the things given but the response of the servants to the Master—Almighty God.

Two servants honored the Master and bore fruit for His glory on their God-given path of life. The third servant belittled and disrespected the Master and squandered his God-given life of opportunities and responsibilities. The end, there of, was death.

Proverbs 14:12 says: "There is a way that seems right to man, but the end is the way of death."

Therefore, beloved, walk with reverence the path of life God has for you. "Enter through the narrow gate [Jesus Christ]. For wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the path is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)