October 14, 2009
Where's Your Mina?
I think the Parable of the Ten Minas is pretty straight forward. To me the moral of the story has always been stewardship. The Lord gives resources, opportunities and money, and then He expects us to use them. Basically, use it or lose it…and the Lord expects an accounting when He returns. I’m excited because I think I just found a loophole. For those who’ve wrapped up their mina and put it on a shelf there’s still hope. They won’t actually lose their mina until the Master returns. There’s still time to put it to work. (Luke 19:11-26)
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Gail;
-----You cubed and breaded the meat of Jesus’ parable, so let me mix up some gravy and make one of my favorite dishes - chicken fried steak. And maybe “chicken” is an appropriate concept to add to the mix, since the one servant who laid his pound away in a napkin did so out of fear. He expressed upon his master’s return that he feared the master because he was a severe man. If the master was such a severe man, why would not the servant from his fear go invest the pound and gain his security by pleasing the master? Since he was left in a far land where the citizenry hated his master, he feared them as well. So he did what was sensible to a foolish chicken, he safeguarded his association with the master against their knowledge by hiding the pound from their sight, and he hoped to safeguard his association with the master by at least having cared for it. This reminds me of James’ warning that a double minded man should expect to receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:8).
-----The other servants acted with courageous initiative. They understood the master’s objective, to win control of the far country. So their faith in the master overcame their fear of the hateful citizenry. The one coward did not place his faith in his master, but in his own ability to sidestep issues through the path of least resistance. Being seized by fear, his mind was unable to grasp the fact that he had failed to sidestep the directive his master gave him - to trade with the pound. It also failed to recognize the merciful side of his master. It was the master himself who suggested his security would have been available by simply putting the money in the bank to earn interest. Courage frees the mind and wins opportunities, and courage is the child of faith.
-----I understand the money in a napkin parable, because my heart has chronically been filled with so much fear. I battle the fearful foxtrot, that sidestep dance cutting a cowardly course through life, to rest my faith in the Lord upon the ground won. The freedom my mind gains from courage of faith I hope His Spirit effects so I might be wise enough to retrieve from my napkin more of the treasure He has entrusted to me and trade with it in the markets of life.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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