(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)
Worship
By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.
Thanksgiving
Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)
Scripture Reading
Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!
Scripture Reading: Matthew Ch. 25 (ESV)
Meditation
Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.
Devotional
Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.)
(vv. 1-30) What is the definition of a faithful and wise servant? Mathew 24:45-25:30 features different kinds of servants and some of their characters can be summarized as follows:
Good traits
- Faithful and submissive: A servant who has followed his master’s commands faithfully. For instance. As he was in charge of the servants in his master’s household, he gave their food at the proper time. In the end, the master came back and found him doing so, the master gave his servant blessings and good remarks.
- Prepared (in advance): A servant who is like one of these five wise virgins who had gone out to buy oils in advance to get ready, and kept the lights on and finished their work, even though the bridegroom was a long time in coming. As a result, the wise ones went in with the bridegroom to the wedding banquet.
- Utilizing his talents: A servant who is like one those men who had received two or five bags of gold (two or five talents) and have put those money to work wisely and gained more for their master. Consequently, he received compliments from the master and he was allowed to be in charge of many things and share the master’s happiness.
Bad traits
- Procrastinating and disobedient: A servant who did not take the Lord’s orders seriously and said to himself,”…My master is delayed.” (v.48) As a result, his master punished him (cut him into pieces).
- Unprepared: It was about the foolish virgins who only took the lamps but did not take any oil with them. When the bridegroom appeared at midnight, they realized that they did not have enough oil to keep the lights on. They rushed out to buy oils, yet they came back way too late. Consequently, the door was shut and they were not allowed to enter the Lord’s house anymore even though they wanted to. The master said to them, “…I don’t know you.” (v.12)
- Buried talents: This was about an unwise servant who had received the one bag of gold (one talent), and dug in the ground and hid the money! He did not invest this money with the bankers for gaining interests and he has totally wasted the money (talent) he had received from his master. In the end, the master called him as a wicked, slothful, and worthless servant, and cast out this worthless servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Do you own any good qualities of the aforementioned faithful servants? Do the parables of the worthless servants remind something about yourself? More can be said about these worthless servants in the above three parables. Some of the virgins said “Lord, Lord,” but they did not seem to know their master that well (v.11). One servant had a wrong perception about his master and said “My master is delayed“. Some foolish virgins shouted “Lord, Lord, open the door for us!” after the door was shut. One wicked servant said “Master, I knew you to be a hard man…” (v.24) Do I ever have such a false perception of Jesus myself? How does that perception influence what I do? Does it impact how I respond to His words?
(vv. 31-46) At the end of this chapter, Jesus mentions his coming again, when all people will come to Him for the judgement. The Lord will make a judgment on them and He will separate the sheep (the righteous ones) from the goats (the evil ones). The final ending is either eternal life or eternal punishment. Are you surprised at all after reading this passage? The Lord’s redemption has nothing to do with your work (e.g., how many times a week do you attend fellowship meetings? How much time have you spent reading and praying? How much is your tithe to God’s Kingdom? How many people have you led to Christ?
Think about this more. Do I see people the same way as Jesus? Will I greet people that the Lord cares about? Am I willing to serve those the Lord is compassionate about? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Once our lives are abiding in Jesus Christ, we become new creations. Once we are reconciled to God, our faith will be completed by his works (ref: James 2:22) and we will be equipped to do such things. Will you submit to Jesus and let Him be the true Lord of your life?
Pray
Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what/where are you going to lead me to today?”)