A Warped Concept of God

I think somewhere in our minds as believers, we expect serving the Lord or using what God has given us to be drudgery . . . hard . . . difficult . . . unpleasant . . . no fun.

In the parable of the talents, that is what the third servant thought. He had a warped concept of his master. He said to him, "I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours" (Matthew 25:24–25).

So essentially the master said, "All right. You say that I am a hard man, harvesting crops that don’t belong to me. If that is so, then why didn’t you invest my money?"

You see, this man’s concept of his master was wrong. He thought his master was something he was not. In the same way, some people have a warped concept of God. They are afraid to say to Him, "Here is my life, Lord. Here is my future. Here are my resources. Here is my time. It is now dedicated to Your glory."

They would never say that because they think God would make their lives miserable. That was the problem with this third servant. He had a false concept of his master.

Many of us are afraid of God, but that fear is not a godly reverence for Him. We are afraid of what He will do to us, afraid that He will ruin our lives. It’s time for us to realize that the greatest joy in life is serving the Lord. It is not drudgery; it’s joy. It is life as it’s meant to be lived.