Day 193: Play Your Cards

Matthew 25:14-30

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I’ve grown up being told to play the cards I was dealt, meaning work with what you have and if you want more work for it. This passage is always referred to by pastors and mentors but not in the way that I came to understand it myself. When we had pretty much nothing my mom would always say, “If you’re faithful over a few things, God will make you ruler over many.” There’s a couple quick points  want to make today, so here we go.

The first point, Life isn’t fair so work with what you have to make yourself better. I am a no excuses type of person, and I truly believe that sometimes life doesn’t pan out the way we want and that’s okay. As in the passage the master gave each of them different amounts, and my first instinct was to say, that’s not fair, the one with one can never do what the one with five can. It’s not fair, and it’s not. But get over it, we’re not always going to be treated fairly or get the upper hand. Once we can get past the fact that life isn’t fair we can move on to doing whatever we need to do to succeed. Even when the odds are against us. To put it into layman's terms, we’re dealing with the rich and the “poor”. Some were born with millions of dollars in a trust fund, and some of us grew up struggling to make ends meet, and many of us grew up somewhere in between. That means some of us will have to work a bit harder than our neighbors, we will have to fight for opportunities that others are given, but let’s not use that as an excuse to be lazy and do nothing. We all have the same opportunities, some are just harder to reach for many of us. We have to learn to work with what we have and not feel bad for ourselves for what we don’t have. Just like the servant with five bags of silver went straight to the investment people and invested what he had the get more, the servant with two went to work in order to get more, but the servant with one decided to do nothing and came up with nothing. It’s our choice we have to choose to want more and then go get it.

The second point being, don’t let fear stop you from doing whatever it is you need and want to do. We’re often afraid of what the outcome will or will not be, therefore we don’t even try. No, we cannot do that.  We have to use what we have to get what we want and for some of us that is scary concept because we give everything we have into one thing and we don’t really know what the outcome will be. But I want you to know this, that God will always make a way. If you are in His will and you know that you are following the path He has laid out for you, everything will work together. There’s no room for fear and insecurity. God has you where you are for a reason, He knows the plan He has for you. Don’t write yourself off and sell yourself short because you don’t have the same cards as someone else. Play the cards you have and if the cards you’re dealt don’t add up, you bluff. Keep that poker face.

Reflection

1. Take the time to evaluate where you are in your life and where you want to be. Not  considering your situation or the cards you were dealt.
2. If there were no limits to what you can do, what would you do?
3. Now, there are no limits, only obstacles. Do it!
4. Get over the fact that life isn’t fair, we know that. Fight to use what you’ve been given to get where you want to go.

Prayer Time

Have a conversation with God about what we talked about today. Thank Him or the life that He has given you, and trust in where He is taking you.