A Good And Faithful Servant

Well done . . . you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.

Matthew 25:21

Several years before slaves were legally set free by Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation,” a Virginia slave agreed to purchase his freedom from his master. He was released to find work where he could. When Lincoln freed all slaves, this man still owed his master three hundred dollars. In spite of his legal freedom, the slave walked from his home in Ohio to his master’s home in Virginia to pay his final debt. His reason? He had given his word, and he would not be able to enjoy his freedom without fulfilling his promise.

Daniel the prophet had been made a slave of the Babylonian and, later, Persian Empires in Mesopotamia. Separated from Jerusalem and his own spiritual culture, he nonetheless continued to worship God faithfully. At the time of the evening offering in Jerusalem (3:00 p.m.), Daniel was found to be faithfully in prayer in Persia—and this after being separated from Jewish practices for nearly seventy years (Daniel 9:21). Without the support structure of your friends and local church, would you remain faithful to God as Daniel did?

Faithful servants are those who live obediently even when they don’t have to—and they are rewarded by God accordingly.