Nowhere in the Gospels does it say that anything will be held back from someone who gives his or her life over to God. Time and time again we hear the words of Jesus telling us that whoever loses his life will save it, I have come so that you may live in abundance, or some other variation of the same message.
This world is broken. To state the obvious, to say something is broken is to say that it is not working the way it should work. This truth should be abundantly clear as we read the Gospel for this week. The master shows great mercy on his servant only to have his servant turn around and not show the same mercy to someone else for the exact same thing. Any society since the beginning of time would acknowledge this sort of behavior as wrong. Whether you are Christian or not, hypocrisy is a character flaw. Nowhere or at any time would a society commend a person for acting in this way, but for some reason, this type of behavior goes on every day and will continue to go on every day until the end of time. We know how it’s supposed to work but for some reason it doesn’t; it’s broken.
The whole message of the Gospels can be summed up into a single phrase; do unto others what you would have them do unto you. Think about a time when this phrase was true for you in your life. Surely you can think of time when you did something for someone and the favor was immediately returned. Or a time when you treated someone poorly and that “favor” was also returned. If you can’t think of a time when this has happened for you, start to look for it on a regular basis. It does happen but not as often as you would think.
The only reason this doesn’t happen every single time is because the world is broken. You are supposed to get what you give. Just read the Gospel’s and you will see that Jesus tells us this all the time and yet it just doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should. We are constantly betrayed, lied to, and disappointed by the ones that we love and show love for. Again, the world is broken.
Living out the Gospels is BY FAR the best way to live. Jesus clearly depicts throughout the Gospels how the world is supposed to work. He recognizes what’s broken and knows just what to do to fix it. So, he teaches us the right way to live. Show love and you will receive love, show mercy and you will receive mercy, give your life and you will save your life, forgive and you will be forgiven. If everyone lived their lives in this way, what a world it would be. But let’s not forget what I’ve been saying, the world is broken! It doesn’t work like this and there is good evidence to suggest that it never will.
This is not to suggest that the life and teachings of Jesus are in any way unrealistic for us to live out in the world today. We certainly have the capability to live this message. But humbly we must admit that from time to time we will fail. Jesus teaches us this message not to discourage us, but to show us His ways. Jesus is anything but broken. When we love Him, He will show His love in return every single time. When we defend Him, He will defend us every single time. So, ultimately it doesn’t matter how broken the world is. The way of Jesus works perfectly, every single time. He guarantees us that we will get exactly what we give. The world can make no such guarantee and living in the world has taught me that I will be betrayed, lied to, and forgotten when I give to others. But that is the way of a broken world. Jesus is not broken and He promises me that if I live to the standard of the Gospels, everything that I do to others will, in the end, be done to me. He promises me that my reward will be great in heaven if I just live out His Gospel message. He promises you the same.
So, what will be done to you when it’s all over? Jesus has given the choice to you. Will God love you, defend you, forgive you and grant you a great heavenly reward? Or will He turn his back on you and cast you out? Well, look at your life. What have you done to others? There’s your answer.
