January 9

“So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds. ’Put this money to work,’ he said, ’until I come back.’” — Luke 19:13

We are doing business in this world for Christ. Each one of us has something of His–a pound which He has entrusted to us to trade with as his agent. Our life itself, with all its powers, its endowments, its opportunities, its privileges, its blessings, its possibilities–is our pound. Our life is not our own. We are not in this world merely to have a good time for a few years. Life is a trust. We are not done with it either, when we have lived it through to its last day. We must render an account of it to him who gave it to us. Our business is to gather gains through our trading with our Lord’s money. We are required to make the most that is possible of our life!

People often speak of the solemnity of dying. It is a grave and serious matter–but it is a great deal more solemn thing to live. Dying is but giving back into God’s hand his own gift–life. If we have lived well, dying is victory, glory, the trampling of life’s fragile vanities to fragments, as our soul bursts into real and full life and blessedness.

It is living then, which is serious and solemn. Life to its last particle is our Lord’s property, entrusted to us to be used so that it shall grow. Then comes the judgment. We shall have to look up into our Lord’s face, and tell him what we have done with his pound. We shall be expected to return our trust, not , only kept safe–but enhanced in value!