Doing Business

In Luke 19 Jesus tells the Parable of the Minas. It is the story of a king going away to receive his official commission, and while he is gone he gives his servants a sum of money with which they are entrusted. He tells them, “Do business with this until I come back.” The NIV says “put this money to work until I come back.” The Greek word is pragma, from which we get the word pragmatic. They were to do something pragmatic with this money; make some business with it. The point is that the man has placed into the care of these servants a generous trust for which they would be held accountable.

What makes this story so compelling is that you and I are in this story. There are only three possibilities. You are either a true servant, a false servant or you are an enemy of Christ. A faithful servant does business with the Master’s gifts and continually receives more opportunities to serve Him. The false servant has received a commission from the Lord but never applies himself to the work of His master. They really don’t care whether Christ’s kingdom comes or succeeds. They simply don’t care. Therefore, they put forth no effort at all. And the enemies figure they can simply ignore the King of glory and suffer no consequence. There are no other categories. And the King is coming. When He comes He will call you to account. The question is: what will you do while the King is away?

Christians, our Lord and Master has gone away for a while. He has been crowned the King of kings and Lord of lords. He has received His kingdom and will soon return to reign in splendor and majesty. At that time He will ask us, you and me, to account for how we handled His business here on earth. He will look at us with eager eyes in anticipation of our offering to Him. As a demonstration of our love for Him we must be about His business until He returns. After all, He did say, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (Jn. 14:15). 

One writer summed up the attitude that should mark all believers: “I would never want to reach out someday with a soft, uncalloused hand – a hand never dirtied by serving – and shake the nail-pierced hand of Jesus.” Our diligent and faithful service provides us with the divine comfort of a steadfast hope. God has given us His Word that we can know Him, and in knowing Him we have eternal life. In gratitude we serve Him and in anticipation of Christ’s return we are to be doing business for His glory. Dig into Scripture to know His purposes for you. There you will find His will, for His Word has been written…..That You May Know (1 John 5:13)