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This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
[Jesus said,] “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:21)
“Well done, good and faithful servant.” I believe that in our heart of hearts these are words we all wish to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Behind all of our labor and striving, our vocations and aspirations—which is to say, our ambitions—behind all of it, I believe there’s a longing to hear such commendation.
But for the longest time, when I read or heard those words from the parable, I thought that the point was that I needed to do great things for God—that what was most important was the size of the return that I would give to the Master on His investment in me.
But then, one day, I noticed a detail in the story that I had long overlooked. When the Master celebrates his “good and faithful” servants, did you catch what he commends them for? He says, “You have been faithful over a little.” He says the same thing in the parable to both the servant with the five talents and the one with two, so the point isn’t how much they have. In both cases, he says, you’ve been faithful over a little. In the version of this story that’s told in Luke’s Gospel, the Master uses an even more vivid word: He says “very little,” teensy-weensy.
Why do I mention this? Because our human default is always to assume that bigger is better, that worth is measured in significant size. But the point in the story isn’t the great size of the work or the grand scope of the ambition. The point is the faith that trusts in the mercy of the Master, who sees that what looks small to us may not be so small after all.
See, our God operates according to a different value system than that of the world. According to His values, the Kingdom looks like a minuscule mustard seed. According to His values, the grand hero is a widow who puts a pair of pennies in the till. According to His values, it’s the poor in spirit who are blessed, the weak and lowly who are elevated, the nobodies who are worthy of the greatest honor.
The world’s ambitions make their aim that you make a name for yourself. But you don’t have to worry about making a name for yourself. In Christ, God has already given you His. When you’re baptized, He places upon you the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And He says to you, “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”
WE PRAY: Dear Lord Jesus, I thank You that You have made me Your own, and that even the little things I do by faith are of wondrous value to You. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Ryan Tinetti.
Reflection Questions:
- Do you have a longing to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Have you ever worried that you’ve not done enough to hear it?
- What is one of the little ambitions that the Lord has tasked you with in this life? In what ways does it bring you satisfaction?
- The invitation of the Master is to “enter into [His] joy.” Have you thought about how joy is our ultimate destination? Do you ever pray for the Lord’s joy in your life?
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