Daily Devotion

This passage has two views. In its narrower view, it refers to the Second Coming of Jesus; in its wider view, it refers to the time when God's call enters a person's life to meet Him. There is praise for the servant who is ready because no man can tell the day or the hour when eternity will invade time, and summons will come. How, then, would we like God to find us? I would like for Him to find me when my work is complete. Life for so many is filled with loose ends. There are things undone, and things half done; things put off, and things not even attempted. Great men have always the sense of a task that must be finished. Jesus Himself said, "I have accomplished the work which You gave me to do" (John 17:4). No person should ever lightly leave undone a task he ought to have finished before night falls.

 

We would like God to find us AT PEACE WITH OUR FELLOWMEN. It would be a haunting thing to pass from this world, and be bitter against someone. Paul writes," No man should let the sun go down on his anger" (Ephesians 4:26). The warning here is that one never knows when the last sun will go down. We would like God to find us AT PEACE WITH HIM. It will make all the difference at the last whether we feel that we are going out into the arms of a stranger, or going to fall asleep in the arms of God. In the second section, Jesus draws a picture of a wise, and an unwise steward. In Israel, the steward had almost unlimited power. He himself was a slave, but he had control of the other slaves. A trusted steward ran his master's house for him and administered his estate. The unwise steward made two mistakes.

 

(1^st) He said to himself, "I will do what I like while my master is away." He forgot that the day of reckoning must come. If we really know what Christianity means, we will know that there is no part of life when the master is away. We are working, and living forever in our great taskmaster's eye.

 

(2^nd) He said to himself, "I have plenty of time to put things right before the master comes." Jesus said, "I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night comes when no one can work" (John 9:4).

 

The passage finishes with the warning that knowledge and privilege always bring responsibility. Sin is doubly sinful to the person who knows better; failure is doubly blameworthy in the person who has every chance to do well.

 

Life Application: Are you ready, or are you still thinking you have time before the Master comes? There is no time to waste because Jesus could come at any time, and we must be ready.

 

Praise/Prayer: "Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow."   Father, thank You for the warnings You give us in the Bible. You tell us often to be ready, and we don't know when it will all be over. Draw me closer to You than I have ever been. I know life is short, and that Heaven is a reality. I don't want to miss the call, "Come home." Amen!