Are You Willing To Change? Perfection In The Making Begins With You

Some people are waiting for the perfect Church.  The Church where everyone gets along and no one ever disagrees, bickerings or fights. The problem is that this Church does not exist.  The Church is full of many who are in need of spiritual directions, guidelines, and various other points of help.  The body of the Christ that is his Church is the same since the beginning of the Church.  Only the names of the people change, the names of sins change, but other than that people are still people and make many human mistakes.  One of my favorite parables on this topic is found in Luke 19: 11-25

The Parable of the Ten Gold Coins.

11. While they were listening to him speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God would appear there immediately.

12. So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.

13. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins* and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’

14. His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’

15. But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading.

16. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’

17. He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’

18. Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’

19. And to this servant to he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’

20. Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief,

21. for I was afraid of you because you are a demanding person; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’

22. He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding person, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant;

23. why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return, I would have collected it with interest.’

24. And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’

25. But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’

26. I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

27. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’”

Today let us address Verse 21: For I was afraid of you because you are a demanding person; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’

How do the people who work below you feel about you?  Do they feel like this servant did and are basically in mortal fear at all times?  Is your boss demanding and makes it difficult for you to get your job done?  Does your boss even know what you do or do not do?  Brothers and sisters, this is not uncommon.  The problem here is that we have a problem in search of a solution and now we need to make sure that doesn’t take us over.  Egos and the overinflated projection of our ego, may not be the same and it may not be who we are, but I would very much like to stop and talk to you today in these three ways.

First, we should be very careful to always remember what we are here on earth.  We are not here on earth to store up our treasures, we are here on earth to share our treasures with others.  This means both time and treasure.

Second, we are not on earth to build up our position here on earth.  All earthly possessions are fleeting.  This includes our bodies.  

Third, we are here on earth to treat everyone like how we ourselves would be treated.  “So whatever you wish that men do to you, do so to them; for this is the law of the prophets” (Matt. 7:12)  

So, brothers and sisters, I ask you now, why am I discussing these things with you today?  Because it is the truth and you know it.  You are reading this because you know it to be true, and you would like to change your ways.   Have faith, a great change is coming and it will sweep across the nation and the entire world.  

This will be a problem no more.  Treat everyone with respect and allow them to grow in their own personal responsibilities. This is something that has worked for more than 2,000 years.  Do not fight with yourself and with God.  You can and will change.  Change of the Glory of God is wonderful.  May we all realize that this article was written so that everyone among us will understand that no one is perfect and we all come up short in the sight of God.  However, our goal is not perfection, our goal is to improve ourselves every day- by working on one thing.  This helps us, it helps our community, and most importantly, it helps the Church.