Matthew 25: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. Welcome to another day. And as we get into this day, you know the best way to start every day of your life is by taking some time with God. To some people that sounds old fashioned. Why would he do that? That sounds a bit hokey, but really it is not. It’s the best part of your life. Your relationship with God, just think about it. God, think about this entire universe and the fact that with His will, the force of His will, He created everything that is.

And the God who has that kind of power and purpose and wisdom and insight, who made life like it is, who created you in your mother’s womb, that God – He wants to know you and walk with you and wants to reveal himself to you and is inviting you to get involved in his ongoing work in this world that is so mind boggling, so amazing we ought to be taking every opportunity to respond to him when he reaches out to us.

And one of the ways He’s reached out to us is in His Word, the Bible. And so to take time every day to open your Bible and say, God speak to me, it is one of the best ways to build your relationship with Him and to grow to be a person whose life makes a difference, because that’s what God wants for us. And not only does He want it for us, but He is going to hold us ultimately accountable to Him for how we’ve used our lives.

We’re focusing this week on a story Jesus told in the Bible to emphasise this point that one day He’s coming back and He’s going to wrap up life on this planet.

And He’s going to hold us accountable for our lives.

And He says it’s just like a man about to go on a journey.

This is the picture of him ascending to the Father, leaving the earth, leaving the disciples, and this man called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave 5 talents, that’s a weight of gold, and to another 2 and to another 1, each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey. And immediately the one who’d received the 5 talents went and traded with them and gained 5 more talents. In the same way, the one who’d received 2 talents gained 2 more.

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And the one who received 1 was afraid he might lose some. And so he dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. It says after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Well, it’s been a long time since Jesus was walking on earth, hasn’t it?

And one of these days when we don’t expect it. He’s coming back.

And He’s going to settle accounts with us. He’s going to say, what have you done with what I gave you in life?

And you know these who used their money well and gained interest for their master, when he settled accounts with them and saw what they had done, he said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been so faithful with what I gave you. I may give you so much more and come on into the joy of your master.

Isn’t that the kind of message you want to receive from God at the end of your life? You’ve done so well. I’m so glad with how you’ve invested your life. You’ve made a difference in ways that honour me and please me.

Well, how are you going to do that with your life? Don’t you know it happens one day at a time.

You can’t just think about your whole life, think about today. What is there in today where you have choices to make that will either honour God or dishonour God? Bring him glory or bring him shame.

What can you do to make God look good in the world today through your life? Well then, do it. Get your life going in that direction. Think about the desires of your life. You know, your desires can drive you. You can either be disciplined with your desires or you can focus them.

When we don’t always want to spend time with God each day, and there’s often other things that are totally secular or or even wrong that are very appealing to us. But when you cultivate the habit of disciplining yourself to listen to God and spend time reading the Bible, spend time with other people who love God, the more your desires will be disciplined to focus on the things that are pleasing to God.

I’m John North.