April 6, 2022

Then another came, saying, ‘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.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

Luke 19:20–22

Well done good and faithful servant.” is the promised greeting for all who enter into the presence of God following a life lived in Christ. One of the most daunting realities of Christ in us is that we bear righteous fruit in a sin-darkened world. Our adoption into the covenant family of God is guaranteed through the deposit of the indwelling Holy Spirit who works in us; granting assurance that God has won us to himself in Christ. More than that - what we hope to hear in the future is consistently born in our lives in the present. If we have received and rest upon Christ for our salvation as he is offered in the Gospels - his faithfulness becomes our very own by grace! Our lives are transformed through his intercession, and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling - and all this is according to the will of our Heavenly Father. Because of God’s saving and sanctifying grace - we find ourselves among the servants who put the deposit entrusted to them to work - not from a fear of punishment; but from a loving and worshipful heart!

—MATT ALLHANDS