“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:51)
Expanded Passage: Matthew 24:48-51
“Leave it better than you found it” was a saying I heard from my mother countless times growing up. Specifically, she would say it when I was heading out to a friend’s house. The expectation was that I would treat their home with the same, if not more, respect than I did our own—to clean up after myself and to be kind and helpful to those whose home I had entered. Though the saying became monotonous in my teen years, I’m grateful for my mother’s persistence now. She was trying to instill in me a sense of respect for people in my life and a desire to be counted as trustworthy.
Jesus ended his example with a powerful description of the fate of a wicked and untrustworthy servant. It wasn’t fear-mongering, but it should come as a stark warning to believers. In the same way that the servants had to stay busy because they could not predict exactly when their master would return, we also must take the responsibility we have as Christians seriously. We should not assume that Christ’s forgiveness means we can continue to sin. Rather, because we have been forgiven, we should do what he desires for us, living by the standards he has set for all his followers, and strive to leave ours and others’ lives “better than we found them”!
Consider how you can be a trustworthy servant of God.
Shannon Fraser is a Kingswood University (NB) graduate who enjoys wedding photography and being involved in her local church. She resides with her husband in Canada.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
