Today’s reading is Luke 19:1-20:47.

What was wrong with the third servant in Luke 19:20-21. “Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.”

Fear.

He was a afraid of failure. He was afraid of His master. He was afraid of the unknown. He allowed his fears to cripple him. He was so afraid that he wouldn’t be successful and therefore that his master would punish him, that he didn’t do anything.

Here is what amazes me. He allowed his fear of punishment to so cripple him that he incurred punishment. The very thing he was so desperately trying to avoid, he caused.

That is exactly what I do sometimes. I get so wrapped up in my fears and I try to make sure my fears don’t happen, then I actually cause them to come true.

What did the servant need to do? First, he needed to get into reality. Instead of living in the fantasy of his fears of what the master might do if some unknown thing happened in some unknown future, he needed to live in the reality of the day. Second, if he was ignorant of how to use the mina, perhaps he could have asked the servant that was producing ten minas or the servant that was producing five. Instead of living in the shame that he didn’t already know how to do what they were doing, he could have simply spent some time with them and learned from them. Third, he could have at least done something. Instead of living in the fear that it would be the wrong thing and that would cause the end of the world, he could have done something and if it was a mistake, learn from it to do better before the master returns. Let’s face it, do we honestly think the 10 and 5 mina producers only had success the whole time the master was gone? Of course not. That just isn’t the way life works. They made some minas and lost some minas and when the master returned they returned what they had netted.

Wow! That is exactly what I need to do today. I need to quit living in the fantasy of my fears about some potential future that hasn’t even happened yet. I need to spend time with people who have what I want and learn how they are getting it. Instead of being paralyzed by the fear that I’ll do the wrong thing, I just need to do something. If I don’t take these approaches, I will likely cause the very punishment I’m trying to avoid in the end.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

I can’t read Ephesians 3-4 without being drawn to Ephesians 3:20-21:

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (ESV).

God can do what we ask or think. Not only that, He can do all that we ask or think. Not only that, He can do more than all that we ask or think. Not only that, He can do more abundantly than all we ask or think. Not only that, He can do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. This doesn’t say He will do anything we ask or think. It simply says He can. There is no request that challenges God. There is nothing that causes God to have a V8 moment, saying, “Whoa, I don’t know about that one, that’s tough.”

But did you also notice that this is through the power working in us? This is not something He does in spite of us. This is not something He does without us. This is something He does through us. If we are surrendering to Him, He can do amazing things through us. Surely the miracles of the apostles recorded in Scripture give us at least a picture that God can do amazing things through us when He wants. You and I may just be plain ol’ Jane and John Doe, but our God is not plain. He is powerful and He can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think by the

 power at work within us.

What does this mean? It means we need to start thinking and asking. We need to get in God’s word and figure out what He wants and start asking for it. Start asking for Him to do it through us. But more than that, we need to think and ask big. I’m not saying trying to test God. I’m just saying let’s rely on God. Let’s have faith in the God who can do beyond what we are asking, so let’s ask Him do to even more.

What a great God we serve.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC