Bare Minimum Deposit

“‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ (Luke 19:22-23)

This is an excerpt from the Parable of the Ten Minas. The story ends with the servant who invested one mina and made a ten mina profit getting the mina given to servant who did nothing with it. Then the King then executes the people who hated him. It’s definitely not a story you want to share with your kids at bedtime, or at a very large church on a Sunday morning. Interestingly enough, Jesus tells this story to a throng of followers, at the height of his earthly ministry! I could have said that we need to be like the servant who took the single mina and earned ten more minas and called it a quiet time; but we know that is the gold standard and some of us just need to get to the minimum standard. This is our study today: how do we get to the minimum standard and what is it exactly? The problem with people is that we tend to sit on what we have and do nothing with it. For example, you remember those kids at school who never studied but always got good grades and then later in life they flamed out and are still living in their parents’ basement, single and broke? Well, if they just deposited their brains into something, they wouldn’t be living in their parents’ basement. Now, let’s talk about you or me? When was the last time you actually exerted energy and skill to apply yourself to something? It was probably well before you settled into your groove of life. Therein lies the problem. The problem isn’t the groove you’ve created for yourself, it’s the lack of applying yourself or your stuff. The interesting thing about this parable, is that none of the servants deny that the minas in their possession was their own. So too, neither our brains, skills, talents, experiences, bodies and money are solely ours. They were given to us. As a result, we can keep it safe and sound and do nothing with it; or we can apply it because the One that gives it to us will be looking for a return on His investment, regardless of how worthy or unworthy we may feel. In speaking of the bare minimum– what have you done with what you were given? Are you even getting back the bare minimum? Is there even a slight remnant, sliver, or shred of evidence of your skill, talent, ability and money that can justify why you exist? If you answered, “no” to any of those questions, the good news is that there’s still time. It’s not too late to apply yourself and your things to do something. The King isn’t here yet, but He’s coming. We need to get excited for His arrival.