God doesn’t ask for much. He just wants us to move into closer alignment with Him and His ways. Jesus said that we should SEEK the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, houses, health, money, love, friendship) will be added to you.
The operative word is seek. Here is a list of words with meanings synonymous with seeking:
- hunt
- look
- search
- pursue
- attempt
- endeavor
- strive
- try
It is God’s desire that we, as His children, share in His Nature and Righteousness. I believe the parable of the talents told by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30 illustrates what I am trying to convey here. I will paraphrase this parable.
Bossman had to go an an extended business trip to the Orient. Before he left, he gave special assignments to 3 of his workers. To worker A, he gave 5 gazillion dollars to invest. Worker B was given $2 gazillion. Finally, to worker C he gave $1 gazillion to invest however he pleased.
After 6 months, Bossman returned and called his workers in for a status report on their investments. The worker A, who was given 5 gazillion dollars earned an additional $5 gazillion- a return of 100%. Bossman was estatic. He congratulated him and gave him a promotion and a raise. Then worker B gave his presentation. He also made a profit of 100%. Bossman congratulated worker B and also gave him a raise and a promotion.
Finally, it was worker C’s turn. His presentation started out bad. He had created a Power Point slide show and accompanying hand outs which showed how hard the employees worked to maintain the company while Bossman was away on business. In his professional assessment, Bossman’s investment expectations for him were unrealistic. His spreadsheet calculations and graphs showed that the risk of loss was high and the probability of successfully investing so much money was negligible. He concluded that the prudent thing to do was to put the $1 gazillion in a bank safe deposit box.
At first, Bossman seemed stunned. His mouth was open but he didn’t say anything. After what seem like forever, Bossman stood up and walked over to the worker C. In front of everyone he said, “If you knew I was such a demanding SOB, requiring more than my employees could possibly deliver, why didn’t your fear of me move you to do SOMETHING with my money. Anything. If you had put my money into a savings account I would have at least earned a little interest. You have cost me money and you’ve insulted me. You’re fired! Clean out your desk. Don’t insult me by asking for a job reference.”
Forgive me for my paraphrase. The point of the parable I believe is that God pleased -very pleased- when we make an effort to walk in His ways and bear fruit. God knows each of us intimately. He knows what we are capable of. He expects us to do what we can: not what we cannot. And when we do what we can do – however much or little — we please Him and He is pleased to bless us by adding all things that we need and desire for a prosperous and abundant life.