Servant;
this is a hard concept for some of us. We are taught things like “Be
all you can be” from childhood onward. Face it, most of us think
that servants are unimportant people, servants, because they do not
have enough abilities or drive to rise above menial tasks. This may
or may not be the truth. When I was growing up, my mother used to
take me to a doctor who had the most unusual name: Cheznekowski (I
think that’s how it was spelled). He was a bit abrupt, with
piercing eyes and a strange accent. He spoke slowly and carefully
and sometimes would use English in strange ways, but for all this, I
thought he was an OK doctor. Then, one day, after my visit was over,
we had a bit of a conversation. This was very unusual, because he
never talked about himself much. What he did say at this time I
remembered though, because it made me think. He said something like:
I wasn’t always a doctor in America, Gary, I used to practice in
Czechoslovakia before that country was overrun by the Nazis; in fact,
I was something like your “Surgeon General” there. But, I am glad
to be in America, because here at least I can be free and still
practice medicine. I found out later that he had to go back to
medical school and everything that goes along with becoming a doctor
again. That must have been very humbling, but he handled his
situation well. I wondered to myself how any one of us would behave
if we were faced with a situation like this. What if we were given
talents and then for some reason, couldn’t do what we loved? For
that matter, what do we do with the talents God has given us right
now? Jesus spoke a parable about this…
Matthew
25 ( World English
Bible )
[11] As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable,
because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of
God would be revealed immediately. [12] He said therefore, “A
certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a
kingdom, and to return. [13] He called ten servants of his, and gave
them ten mina coins,* 10 minas was more than 3 years’ wages for an
agricultural laborer. and told them, ‘Conduct business until I
come.’ [14] But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after
him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’ [15]
“It happened when he had come back again, having received the
kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the
money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained
by conducting business. [16] The first came before him, saying,
‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’ [17] “He said to
him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful
with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
[18] “The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five
minas.’ [19] “So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five
cities.’ [20] Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina,
which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, [21] for I feared you,
because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t
lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’ [22] “He said to
him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant!
You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t
lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow. [23] Then why didn’t
you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have
earned interest on it?’ [24] He said to those who stood by, ‘Take
the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.’
[25] “They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ [26] ‘For I
tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him
who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from
him. [27] But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to
reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
Being
a servant means using what God has given you to the best of your
abilities. Not, when you feel like it, or in a haphazard way, but
enthusiastically. In the case above, it involved money (mina’s),
but it just as well could have been something else. One servant
pleased his Lord greatly and was rewarded accordingly; another, had
everything taken away from him. Why? The answer is verse 27- that man
really didn’t want to be a servant anyway. In his heart, he had
rejected his nobleman master and ultimately it was his undoing.
The
point of all this is- You may be many things in this life, but first
and foremost you will always be a servant of God. So, forget titles
and do what you need to do; doctor Cheznekowski, did. And so can YOU!