Luke 19

OK, so you've read this chapter before probably. Nice wee little man life transformation story to kick it off. But Luke's version of the parable of the talents is a great commentary on what I was thinking about yesterday. We like the parts about the good servants. The ones who brought their master back more than He gave them. But what of Even Steven?

You know, I think those of us who play it safe with our knowledge of God can easily tend to describe ourselves as faithful. But Christine Caine, a preacher who spoke to our staff recently, pointed out what Jesus calls it. Wicked. What we call faithful, God calls wicked. We cannot play it safe. We cannot fail to take risks with the knowledge of God that we have. We cannot just say a prayer, get dunked publicly, and then coast through the rest of our life (even a very moral life)and think that we are being a faithful servant. Jesus said that kind of servant is wicked. True knowledge that our Creator God became flesh to suffer and die for our sins demands action. So the kind of knowledge of God that leads to salvation must not be talking about intellectual assent. Knowledge accompanied by inaction isn't real salvation at all. It is wicked.

Whew. That's a hard truth. But an inescapable one.