It isn’t always easy to partner with God but it is always the most rewarding way to live!  He will lead us to places that will build our faith and resolve as we follow Him.  If I have learned anything at all from walking with God, partnering with Him in all of life, I have learned that where He guides—He provides.  If we see only what we have in our bank accounts while evaluating our resources as we try to budget God’s will and purpose; then most of us will humanly say the risk is just too great. 

Jesus showed and told his followers (and us) stories of real-life examples of risk takers many times.  I am reminded of the widowed woman of low means who Jesus observed at the Temple one day as the rich people filed by to noisily dropped their offerings into the big brass buckets for public attention. They were heard all right, but what got the notice of Jesus was this one woman…

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”  (Mark 21:1-4, NIV)

People who partner with God are risk takers with great faith invested in God.

Matthew 25, The Message

The Story About Investment

^14-18 “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

^19-21 “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

^22-23 “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

^24-25 “The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

^26-27 “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

^28-30 “‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

I love how The Message tells this story describing the investors as becoming partners with God!  We learn that when we invest what God has given to us to manage and multiply to the best of our abilities, we become partners with God!  The possibilities are then endless and limitless!

If we are partners with God, the Creator of all, above all and in all, who guides us to His will and provides for His plan, what do we have to lose?  Nothing.  There is no life invested for His Kingdom that is wasted is the greater answer! 

God notices risk takers of great faith. God loves a cheerful giver who is a generous soul the scriptures tell us.  Our obedience is an expression of our deep love for God.  “Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, MSG) Great faith comes from a sincere heart for God!

Partnering with God isn’t just about money, it’s about investing our very lives as an offering to God, giving all that we are to all that He is. It’s also about all the resources He has given as ways and means to do His will. Paul writes: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”  Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Partnering with God changes us from the inside out.  God brings out the best in us—His holy character traits—the fruits of His Holy Spirit.  As God invests in us, we in return, reinvest all He has given to us and is doing in us to help others in His Kingdom work of pointing the way to salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ! 

THIS is an investment that is worth all the risk!  Partnering with God is a sure thing!

Don’t bury and hide what God has given to us!  Don’t let fear bridle or hinder us!

Lord,

There is more than meets the eye in our first reading of this story!  You invested your very life in us.  It is only right thing to do but reinvest your love, mercy, and grace to others so that they can invest!  This is our great commission—go and tell!  We get it.  We love being partners with You.  I believe.  I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul.  Thank you for guiding and providing me all my life!  You have changed me and you continue to transform until I can be all you intended for me to be—bringing out YOUR best through me.  Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name, AmenHide it under a bushel—NO!  I’m gonna let it shine