Explaining his parable of the unjust steward, the Lord Jesus commented that “the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light.” Just as successful servants of this world are diligent in their business, so the children of God should occupy themselves as diligently in the things of God.
In business, a financial inventory must be taken so that the owner sees the real condition of his venture. He must accurately know the present status of his business in order to profitably plan for the future. Taking some lessons from these methods, we can usefully apply the standards of scripture to arrive at a “balance sheet” for our spiritual use.
Assets
The assets we have are positive values which God has Himself provided. First, the Lord spared not His own Son, “but delivered him up for us all.” Whereas we were without hope with nothing counting in our favor, God has, so to speak, in Christ set up for us a tremendous debit account.
A second asset is provided us in the Word of God. “The holy scriptures,” Paul said, “are able to make you wise unto salvation” and are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” And the Word of God, wrote Jeremiah, “is like a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces.”
In Christ, we acquire other benefits. One of these is his mediator-ship. He understands our weaknesses and our problems, and he makes intercession for us. In our Savior’s model prayer, we notice that we are to ask for help in doing God’s will. Prayer is certainly a valuable asset without which we cannot survive. “Pray without ceasing” is the command.
We have fellowship with God and His Son — an exalted privilege and benefit. Fellowship with God is the highest relationship to which we can attain. Another asset not to be overlooked is the association and help we get from others of like faith. The blessings of our fellowship together are great. Whether we realize it or not, the contribution of ourselves to this fellowship is vital to the wellbeing of the whole body.
We cannot possibly recount all the blessings our Heavenly Father has provided for us, but these are some outstanding ones.
Liabilities
The flesh
On the other side of the balance sheet are our liabilities. We have many of these; the most obvious one is the flesh. We are told in no uncertain terms that “in the flesh dwelleth no good thing;” that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit;” that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
The deceitfulness of sin
A related liability we must face is the deceitfulness of sin. Spiritual failure will be the result if this pitfall is not recognized; the problem is that sin so often appears pleasant and harmless to us. Our senses love comfort and satisfaction so they enduce us to step over the line between that which God allows and that which is covetous and licentious. Our egos seek attention and react harshly to criticism, leading us to rationalize a biting tongue and a bullying attitude. Excuses are always available to justify laziness. Our mortality orients us to immediate concerns so we chaff under afflictions that are preparing us for the future. Sin can deceive us, work its way into our lives and hearts and harden us so that we do not perceive its presence.
The world
The world we are born into is a liability in itself: “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
It is easy to repudiate the baser things of the world; but if spiritual balance is not carefully maintained, we will be deceived and entrapped by those things in the world that our contemporaries find acceptable. We are to love not the world, neither the things of the world.
Our personalities
Each of us is born with his own besetting sins and weaknesses which are constantly pulling him in the wrong direction. Some of us are born lazy so that we have trouble motivating ourselves to the effort of discipleship. Others of us are born hard-driving and have trouble working with those we regard as not zealous. Some are high-strung all their lives and have a continual problem with their tongues and tempers.
The resulting performance
The assets and liabilities are there. We must take advantage of the former while minimizing the impact of the latter to produce works of righteousness to the glory of God. In so doing, we are trying to achieve positive results as the businessman does in his sphere of activity.
Nevertheless, there is a great difference between the cold world of business and the great warmth of the grace of God experienced by the saint. Grace is a word that is difficult to define. Used in the Bible sense it is an attribute that belongs to God alone. It encompasses love and mercy, but we cannot adequately express the righteous, loving kindness of the Father in offering to the children of men eternal salvation.
A day of accounting
However, there is to be a day of accounting for all of us. A scrutiny of our performance will determine whether we have been consistently dedicated to the service of God.
Now is the time to take inventory of our situation. Now is the time to evaluate our performance so that we may be prepared for the day of account. Now there is still time to better employ the assets we have been given. Now there is time to recognize our liabilities and their debilitating effect on our lives. Now there is time, but eventually time will run out, for “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One