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Benjamin Franklin once said that the person who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Jesus told a story about a man who gave a lame excuse. He related the story to correct the thinking of those who expected Him to set up his earthly kingdom immediately. He said a nobleman went away to be crowned king. Before leaving, he called together 10 of his servants and gave each an equal amount of money to invest while he was gone. When he returned, he called the servants to see what they earned. The first servant had earned ten times the original amount. The second earned five times the amount. Each of them was rewarded appropriately. But the third servant was lazy; he hid the money and brought back only the original amount. He offered the lame excuse that his master was too hard to deal with. The lazy man wasted his chance to receive approval or reward. The strong lesson for us is this. We should use the time, talents, and resources that God has invested in us to honor Him, and to fulfill God’s purposes in the world. All that we are and all that we possess come from God. When we take God’s gifts and use them only to fulfill our selfish desires, we not only disappoint our heavenly Father; we become spiritually poor here on earth, and we lose the reward God has reserved for us in His eternal kingdom.
