Love Acts

by Wayne Cordeiro on January 19, 2023

It’s Thursday, January 19, 2023. Today we see Jesus wrap a Kingdom principle in a parable that shows us a connection between stewardship and love. This parable encourages us to take a closer look at what we are doing with what God has given us. Read on … 

Today's Reading:

Genesis 47,48; Psalms 10; Luke 19

Scripture

““But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.” (Luke 19:14-15)

Observation

Sure isn’t the best send-off when a delegation comes after you on your way out, telling you not to return! That surely wouldn’t make your day! But this nobleman does return, but I noticed something intriguing: He doesn’t send in a missile and in revenge, do them all in, nor does he sort out the mutineers from the committed. He doesn’t send out interrogators to search out the defectors. Nope.
 

Instead, he simply holds them each accountable for how they used what was given to them. The ones who invested and increased what they had, the nobleman said: “Well done, good slave, because you’ve been faithful in a little thing, be in authority over ten cities” (v. 17). 


However, the ones who did not invest what they were given actually condemned themselves. Those who did nothing and those who succeeded had equal opportunities. It was a matter of the heart, not the size of the opportunity. John reminds us: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me …” (John 14:21).

Application

How do I, in the end, really express my love? The bottom line will not be how popular or how notable we’ve become. God will simply look at how much I have acted upon what He has asked. Will I have invested and increased what He’s given me … whether it is leadership, influence, vision, or the ability to raise up leaders? Each of us ... those whom God uses for His glory and those who sit on the sidelines … may not have the same gifts, but we all have the same opportunity. I noticed that God did not rate them according to their gifts. He rated them according to their initiative to obey what the nobleman asked of them.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, one of the best ways to show my love for you is to take what You’ve given me and invest it, increase it, and see it enlarged for You. So please help me not pull back to what’s most comfortable and easy but rather to prune to what You have created me to do. Even though pruning pinches me at times and requires sacrifice, I will submit to Your pruning so I can be free to do the things You’ve commanded me to do.

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