If you have ever had children or if you have ever been a child (anyone left without a hand up?,) you have heard or uttered the phrase, "It's not fair." I value fairness, especially for me. Fairness as a guiding principal is not a bad one. That is, we live our lives being fair to one another. But God reminds me that there are principles higher than fairness. These principles are embodied in what God calls The Kingdom, the world as God sees it and wants it.
We read in church recently (you were there worshiping God, weren't you?,) that the Kingdom is meant to be our North Star, our guiding light. Following Jesus keeps us on track because that is his North Star. If we follow him, even if we don't understand, we will still be heading in the direction of abundant life. The story I refer to is found in Matthew 25:14-30. It is about economy in the Kingdom. In it, a land owner doles out his wealth for others to care for. The distribution is quite varied (not fair) but everyone gets a boatload of the bounty. The expectation of the landowner is clear – make something of it. Risk.
In the end, the land owner returns to see some have risked and leveraged what was not theirs and one, one who was frozen in fear, returned the unleveraged wealth having hid it. The landowner was not pleased with this last resource manager and takes what little he has (not fair.) No Kingdom work was done.
Three things I glean from this Kingdom story. First, there isn't anything I have that did not originate with God. Period (whining may commence now.) Second, some people are asked to manage less than others (not fair) but all get a whole bunch. And finally, I think risk is a Kingdom trait. Yes, an educated, calculated risk but risk none the less. I think the land owner would have been pleased even if the leveragers had lost wealth. The ultimate sin was one of conservation and no risk. The leveragers, in turn, received even more to play with.
You have been asked to manage (and give an account for) a whole lot from God. How's it going? How's your leveraging?
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