The Heart of God

I was revisiting today the parable of the talents that Jesus tells in Matthew 25. As you know if you've read the passage, the basic idea of the story is a master, representing God, gives money to three of his servants. Two of his servants spend it wisely and use it to make more money, earning them praise. The third does nothing earning him his master's anger.

The typical interpretation of this passage is that it is instructing us to use wisely what God has given us. But what struck me today was what the third servant, the unfaithful one, says when questioned by the master. Starting in verse 24:

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."

"I knew you were a harsh man." This line more than anything else shows what went wrong with the third servant. If the master in the story truly represents God then what the third servant says about him is completely untrue. God is not cruel and unkind, but loving and generous. Yes, He certainly is fierce and has every capacity to act harsh when He needs to but those are not the truest things about Him, especially not to those, like the servant, who He calls His own.

The servant in the parable no doubt has reasons for why he believes what he believes but he's missed the larger truth. More importantly, he's missed his master's heart for him. The master wants to make him more than a servant. He wants to give him more responsibility so that he can one day be a partner and a friend, just as does for the two faithful servants. But the servant cannot or will not see this. He's been sold on a lie and has missed the heart of his master.

I believe that more than anything the enemy is trying every day to sell us on the same lie. He may not be trying to convince you that God is harsh and angry. Maybe he's trying to tell you God is indifferent and never becomes angry. Maybe he's convincing you that God's love is entirely conditional. Whatever the lie is, the goal is the same: to get us to miss the heart of God.

God's heart is for us. As David reminds us in the Psalms, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. As Paul says in Ephesians, God had us in mind before the creation of the world. Our sin has caused to fall far from that wonderful creation, from who God had in mind since before time began. God's heart is all about getting us back to who we were always meant to be. Anytime He is harsh or disciplines us, it is towards this goal. Every blessing, every showing of love, is to bring us back to a deeper intimacy with Him. God's heart is about restoring us to be His children, His friends, the Bride of Christ.

Keep that central in your heart and the enemy's lies won't have a chance.