Thursday, April 20
Read Matthew 25:14-30.

Responsibility for Wealth
"Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury" (v. 27).

In the Parable of the Talents, the master conveys a certain amount of money to three servants. The funds represented both an opportunity and an obligation. Nowhere are the funds viewed as being intended for personal pleasure. The two "profitable" servants used the opportunity with an eye to their obligation to the master. Both were rewarded with more significant opportunities for investment, not a life of ease based on the investment or the profits. The third servant is condemned because he failed to seize the moment to enhance his master's holding but was contented to "manage" his holdings with an eye to not losing. Possessions are the Father's investment in His children with which they are to extend His kingdom. Doing so brings His commendation. Failure to do so brings His condemnation.
Contrary to the opinion of the unprofitable servant, our Father is not a demanding taskmaster. God's bounty is strikingly evident in our daily lives. But the ultimate purpose of such gifts provides both opportunity and obligation. Failure to understand these underlying purposes for His investment in us justifies the Master in removing the investment He has made in us. Blessings bring responsibility. (William Snider)