June 10 Thought for the day...being about the Father's business

I don't know if you are ready to handle this one, but it is another tough one. We simply can't leave that scripture verse yet.

"And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:30

We already talked about the unprofitable servant that the word translated means "good-for-nothing, useless." Why is Jesus so harsh when we know He is full of love and grace and mercy. We need to look through the Father's eyes. In His light, He sees eternity. He sees people He loves, people His Son died for, dying and going to hell because those who have been blessed, refuse to do anything. They refuse to see anything past their own selfish desires. Eternity is forever, and hell was not created for human beings but for the devil and his demons. 

Statistics tell us that if a child is not reached by the age of 8, their chances of coming to Christ become almost negligible. People will come to church if asked by a friend. Like yesterday's story, God knows what you can do and the impact you will have if you will use your talent for the Kingdom. God sees these lives in the balance. He can't believe that His children would listen to the enemy say, "you are too busy to help," "you aren't qualified to help," "they don't want your help, anyway," or "there are too many more important things you need to be doing."

In this story, the useless servant's talent is given to the one who doubled the most. Any good manager knows if you want to get something done, you don't waste time on someone who is unproductive you take from them and give their responsibility to the one who can really get it done.

The useless servant is then cast into outer darkness where there are weeping and gnashing of teeth. The outer darkness was a common term for the unprotected area outside of the high walls of the city. In the outer darkness, lions would roam the walls at night because people threw their trash over the walls. Lions would come searching the trash for food. A person thrown outside would have been unprotected and would become prey for the lions. This was a common practice in Israel at the time of Jesus. Someone in this condition, should they survive the night, would have been weeping and so fearful their teeth would have been ground down from fear. Many did not survive the night. Those who did repented and were welcomed back.

Part of their gnashing and weeping too was less severe but still painful. They would watch as others who responded to God would have great success because of their heart after God. The things they made excuses for not doing, God was using others quite powerfully. Reinhard Bonnke the Evangelist who reached all of Africa for the Gospel, once told me, he was not God's first choice, but others had said "no" to God. I can't imagine how they felt seeing Reinhard's success.

What about you? I pray you are not useless, but if you are feeling convicted, don't wallow in self-pity, God needs you to take action, the stakes are too high and the time too short. Be about the Father's business!