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Success vs Faithfulness

Rowland Croucher writes:

"To all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance." Matthew 25:29.
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) prompts a bundle of questions. Among them: does it teach success as a correlate of faithfulness? One preacher asks: 'Why were the two servants who put their talents to work faithful, and the one who did not unfaithful? Very simply, because they were successful'. Another disagrees: 'The point of the parable is not the money they made, but the fact that they did not hide it away. They were faithful not because they were successful (made money), but because they faithfully put to work the resources the Master entrusted to them'.

'We must make sure', says W A Visser't Hooft somewhere, 'that we do not decide that we shall succeed. If we decide to succeed then we may succeed without succeeding in God's way. But if we go on from day to day seeking to do His will then we shall be prepared to receive success from Him if He wills it; and if He does not, then humbly say: it is God's decision that David shall not build the temple, but he will raise up Solomon'.

So aim to be faithful: if God grants success, OK. If He doesn't, OK.

Nevertheless, Lord, may I not use the quest for faithfulness as a 'cop-out'. I want to maximize the talents you have entrusted to me, for your glory.

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Copyright & copy; 1997 Rowland Croucher. All rights reserved. May be freely used and reproduced by the Christian Church for the non-profit purposes of study and training only, provided all copyright information is included. May be resent only with copyright, authorship and contact information intact.

This article is published courtesy of Rowland Croucher, John Mark Ministries. If you would like to peruse more articles from the pen of Rowland Croucher, visit his website at http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm.

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