A PARABLE AND ITS TEACHINGS
Start living your life! That’s why you’re here anyway…you shouldn’t wait for tomorrow. You do not own it.
I’m not a Bible scholar, but one story of the Bible always ring in my head…the story of the master who gave his three servants some coins. One servant was given 5, the other; 2, the other; 1 (or so I think). The servant with 5 coins traded with it and made an extra 5. Same with the one with 2 coins…but the servant that was given 1 coin went out to bury it. On the day the Master returned, he demanded to know how his servants dealt with their coins. They all gave account of their coins. The Master was proud of the first servant who made an extra 5 coins and he vehemently rebuked the last servant who got 1 coin but decided to bury it.
This story is enlightening on many grounds. And like we know, God is God and we cannot question him. But in my quiet time, whenever I think of this teaching, there are so many questions going through my head.
I wonder why each of the servants were treated differently. Why didn’t the Master give them equal coins? After all, they were all servants anyway! And why did the Master expect the same level of commitment and dedication to work from the three servants even when he made distinctions from the outset?
In my bewilderment, I have understood that grace is not fair or equal. Grace doesn’t look at the most faithful or the most holy. If that were the case, the Pope, pastors and Imams will be topping the world’s richest men. The Lord blesses those whom he wants to bless…if you are aggrieved with this, when you get up there, ask Him why. So, if we unanimously agree that grace and life itself is not fair, why don’t you make good use of what has been handed over to you, whether big or small?
It’s obvious that God hates mediocrity, laziness and idleness. If not, He should have praised the servant who returned exactly what was given to him. That’s how I see it. Please note that the servant with one coin did not spend it all (he wasn’t a ‘’spender’’), he only kept it. I don’t know which is even worse, should he have spent it and come back with nothing? I doubt that his master would have been pleased with that too. The import of this is, failure isn’t an excuse…or an option. You have to keep trying! Like I saw somewhere: ‘’it doesn’t matter how many times you fail, you only need to succeed ONCE!’’. Very powerful message.
You’ll think it’s was over when the Master reprimanded the servant with one coin…the Master did the unimaginable! He collected the one coin from the ‘’lazy’’ servant and gave it to the servant with five coins who made an extra five coins! Huh? Who does that? I meditate on this, and I must tell you, I don’t know if I should be angry or happy sef. I guess I have mixed feelings on this part. The servant with the 5 coins already had 5 extra, why give him 1 more coin and leave the ‘’one-coin servant’’ with none? Sounds unfair to me.
But this is the reality we live in…
Those that have much keep having more, and the little some others have, are taken away from them. Better put: ‘’The rich keeps getting richer, and the poor, poorer.’’ Unfair world.
You see why you just cannot keep remaining the same way you are? You see why you have to put in more effort and reproduce? You see why God keeps blessing the ‘’rich’’ and it seems like what the poor has is being taken away from them? If this story of the Master and his three servants doesn’t motivate you, I wonder what will.
Honestly, I try not to ‘’stumble’’ on this scripture sometimes, because it seems to be the answer to some of the world’s vital question… The question of ‘’why Dangote, why not me’’? We already know that grace and life is unfair and unequal and has nothing to do with wisdom, maturity or holiness, so let’s not waste time debating why life is unfair. We seriously cannot answer that. But we can change something. We can use what we have to get what we want. What God wants is the effort, the sacrifice, the willpower and the unrelenting spirit. The Bible didn’t record that the servant with one coin tried and failed, what the Bible says is that the servant went to bury his coin almost immediately. He didn’t even give it a try! That was bad, that was faithless, and that was lazy.
Just be rest assured that sleeping in church from morning till the next day wouldn’t multiply your earnings. Fasting and praying and rolling on the floor wouldn’t help much either, but you should do these though. You need to put on your thinking cap and map out ways to multiply your earnings and then get to work immediately. Stop the pity party and start the work! Don’t envy those on their grind and making things happen, instead, let them be your inspiration, your motivation and your drive.
The moment you begin to feel like you aren’t reproducing, then, you may just be that servant with the one coin. The moment you begin to ask why your colleague is doing better than you, then, your colleague may just be the servant with 5 coins who reproduced, and you, the one-coin servant. A word is enough for the wise.
Enough already!
So how have y’all BDiarians been? Been a while yeah? I missed you all. Truth be told, this article wasn’t even planned! I just wrote. And I feel like I have spoken to someone. I hope I did. Please share your thoughts about the message behind the article and what you have learnt.
PSA: It’s my birthday in a week! I remember I shared pictures and stories from my last birthday on the blog sometime last year. Oh well, there’s no mini vacay this year. I’m sorry. Work happened and we’re busy trying to double our coins! I’ve started accepting gifts and goodwill messages though. They are never too early. *winks*
Have a wonderful weekend my SWEETHEARTS. You know I love you right? Thanks for reading!
Barby.
I’m not a Bible scholar, but one story of the Bible always ring in my head…the story of the master who gave his three servants some coins. One servant was given 5, the other; 2, the other; 1 (or so I think). The servant with 5 coins traded with it and made an extra 5. Same with the one with 2 coins…but the servant that was given 1 coin went out to bury it. On the day the Master returned, he demanded to know how his servants dealt with their coins. They all gave account of their coins. The Master was proud of the first servant who made an extra 5 coins and he vehemently rebuked the last servant who got 1 coin but decided to bury it.
This story is enlightening on many grounds. And like we know, God is God and we cannot question him. But in my quiet time, whenever I think of this teaching, there are so many questions going through my head.
I wonder why each of the servants were treated differently. Why didn’t the Master give them equal coins? After all, they were all servants anyway! And why did the Master expect the same level of commitment and dedication to work from the three servants even when he made distinctions from the outset?
In my bewilderment, I have understood that grace is not fair or equal. Grace doesn’t look at the most faithful or the most holy. If that were the case, the Pope, pastors and Imams will be topping the world’s richest men. The Lord blesses those whom he wants to bless…if you are aggrieved with this, when you get up there, ask Him why. So, if we unanimously agree that grace and life itself is not fair, why don’t you make good use of what has been handed over to you, whether big or small?
It’s obvious that God hates mediocrity, laziness and idleness. If not, He should have praised the servant who returned exactly what was given to him. That’s how I see it. Please note that the servant with one coin did not spend it all (he wasn’t a ‘’spender’’), he only kept it. I don’t know which is even worse, should he have spent it and come back with nothing? I doubt that his master would have been pleased with that too. The import of this is, failure isn’t an excuse…or an option. You have to keep trying! Like I saw somewhere: ‘’it doesn’t matter how many times you fail, you only need to succeed ONCE!’’. Very powerful message.
You’ll think it’s was over when the Master reprimanded the servant with one coin…the Master did the unimaginable! He collected the one coin from the ‘’lazy’’ servant and gave it to the servant with five coins who made an extra five coins! Huh? Who does that? I meditate on this, and I must tell you, I don’t know if I should be angry or happy sef. I guess I have mixed feelings on this part. The servant with the 5 coins already had 5 extra, why give him 1 more coin and leave the ‘’one-coin servant’’ with none? Sounds unfair to me.
But this is the reality we live in…
Those that have much keep having more, and the little some others have, are taken away from them. Better put: ‘’The rich keeps getting richer, and the poor, poorer.’’ Unfair world.
You see why you just cannot keep remaining the same way you are? You see why you have to put in more effort and reproduce? You see why God keeps blessing the ‘’rich’’ and it seems like what the poor has is being taken away from them? If this story of the Master and his three servants doesn’t motivate you, I wonder what will.
Honestly, I try not to ‘’stumble’’ on this scripture sometimes, because it seems to be the answer to some of the world’s vital question… The question of ‘’why Dangote, why not me’’? We already know that grace and life is unfair and unequal and has nothing to do with wisdom, maturity or holiness, so let’s not waste time debating why life is unfair. We seriously cannot answer that. But we can change something. We can use what we have to get what we want. What God wants is the effort, the sacrifice, the willpower and the unrelenting spirit. The Bible didn’t record that the servant with one coin tried and failed, what the Bible says is that the servant went to bury his coin almost immediately. He didn’t even give it a try! That was bad, that was faithless, and that was lazy.
Just be rest assured that sleeping in church from morning till the next day wouldn’t multiply your earnings. Fasting and praying and rolling on the floor wouldn’t help much either, but you should do these though. You need to put on your thinking cap and map out ways to multiply your earnings and then get to work immediately. Stop the pity party and start the work! Don’t envy those on their grind and making things happen, instead, let them be your inspiration, your motivation and your drive.
The moment you begin to feel like you aren’t reproducing, then, you may just be that servant with the one coin. The moment you begin to ask why your colleague is doing better than you, then, your colleague may just be the servant with 5 coins who reproduced, and you, the one-coin servant. A word is enough for the wise.
Enough already!
So how have y’all BDiarians been? Been a while yeah? I missed you all. Truth be told, this article wasn’t even planned! I just wrote. And I feel like I have spoken to someone. I hope I did. Please share your thoughts about the message behind the article and what you have learnt.
PSA: It’s my birthday in a week! I remember I shared pictures and stories from my last birthday on the blog sometime last year. Oh well, there’s no mini vacay this year. I’m sorry. Work happened and we’re busy trying to double our coins! I’ve started accepting gifts and goodwill messages though. They are never too early. *winks*
Have a wonderful weekend my SWEETHEARTS. You know I love you right? Thanks for reading!
Barby.
My dear d bible has n said it all,ds parable made it clear 2 all d lazy 1s @ there,no food 4 lazy man,u must sow to reap we all need 2 work hard 2 move 2 d nxt level.Dangote started 4rm d scratch,d Grace,mercy n blessings of d lord was also with him.Every man should always pray 4 God's grace,mercies n favour on ur work,business n so on,God cannot bless an empty hand,there must b smtin 2 multiply.
ReplyDeletewonderful message...very inspirtational. sometimes i wonder if d barby i knw and the writer are one and thesame person...they are 2 different intelligent pple...Good piece dear
ReplyDeleteLol...issorai Akpos.
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