Thoughts on Matthew 25

Today's reading: Jeremiah 21; Matthew 25

Comparing yourself, your progress, or your "output" to other Christians is never a good measure of spiritual health.

Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 25 that I am personally incredibly grateful is in the Bible. It's long, so I'm not going to reproduce it all here, but it is the parable of a man going on a journey, and giving three of his servants money to work with while he is gone to continue to advance his estate. Jesus tells us he gives the three men 5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent respectively, based on their ability (1 talent was equal to about 16 years' worth of wages for a normal laborer). When he returns, he is pleased with the first two servants, the first of which turned the 5 talents into 5 more, and the second of which turned the 2 talents into 2 more, but he is severely displeased with the third servant who buried the money in the ground and simply returned his master's money to him, having done nothing with it.

The reason I'm grateful for this parable is that the master is equally pleased with both of the first two servants. He doesn't express disappointment that the second servant didn't generate as much revenue as the first servant, he is simply pleased that both were faithful and provided a return on his investment.

Think about how differently this could have gone if the master was comparing them based on output. It really wouldn't be a fair situation at all, one man having started with significantly more than the others, but it would probably leave the second servant constantly feeling inadequate and like he needs to work hard and catch up to the first. As he sees the first servant having made his first talent, the second servant would look at the half-talent he had generated and feel a lot of pressure to catch up. He might start working longer hours, stringing himself out too much to where he's not making good decisions anymore, he might start making too risky of decisions to try to catch up and actually lose money in the process, he might start to resent the first servant for being ahead of him, or his master for not giving him as much to start with, and he might ultimately give up trying when he's just not able to catch up.

But this isn't how it goes. The master is not judging the two men based on their overall output, he is judging them based on whether or not they were faithful with what they had been given, that's it.

This is why, as Christians, we should not be comparing ourselves to one another. As Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, each Christian has been given different gifts of the Holy Spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ. Each person is coming from a different background, a different family situation, a different economic situation, a different social situation, different educational opportunities, etc. We all have our own personalities, proclivities, and desires. And God engages with, grows, and works through each of us as the individuals He created us to be. When we start comparing ourselves to one another, and resting our understanding of our spiritual heath and faithfulness to the Lord on comparisons to other people, we assume that we know we are starting from the same place, and have been given the same amount to work with. More than that, we ignore the fact that God may desire to use two otherwise identical individuals differently. Even if two Christians had exactly the same background, giftings, resources, etc. who are you to know whether the Holy Spirit is wanting one to work one way, and the other to work another? Maybe He desires to send one to the mission field and have the other serve in a small-town church somewhere. Are we to tell Him He's doing it wrong? Does the clay get to tell the potter what type of vessel He desires to make out of it? Then neither should we presume to judge the quality of our own spiritual lives by those of others.

We want to look at output because it is easy to see, measure, and compare, but God is looking at faithfulness. Are you being faithful to what the Lord has before you? Are you listening to His Spirit? Are you dealing with the sins He is calling you to set aside? Are you serving in the ways He is calling you to serve? Are you an active participant in the spiritual community He has placed you in? Yes, some aspects of faithfulness will look the same, or similar, from Christian to Christian, but much of faithfulness won't necessarily look the same, so external outputs from our spiritual lives are not a good gauge of what God is looking for and pleased with.

The question we should be asking is not, "How do I stack up against other Christians?" but, "Am I being faithful to what the Lord is calling me to?"

If you are growing in your relationship with the Lord, growing in faith, hope, and love, faithful to the good things the Lord has for you, there is no need for comparison at all. Continue to walk and grow in faithfulness, and live with the excited expectation of the day that you will stand before the Lord and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."