april 4 : Luke 19

''I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.''
This passage always confused me, and still does. I am reading this passage thinking why is the tone of the story so negative? I guess in a different perspective it has a more brighter tone. However, let me just try to break it down so I can understand it better. First the story begins by a man of noble birth (presumably Jesus) going off to a distant land to be made king of the land. But during the processes people of the land did not want him to be king. But immediately it said, "he was made king, however, and returned home." So what I thought while reading this was this: even though the world does not acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and hates him, he is still God. No matter how hard you do not acknowledge Him as Lord, he still is your Lord. Lets be reminded of the supremacy of Christ.
The second part of this passage looks at how his servants responded to the money that was left for them to increase while the master was gone. One man makes 1 into 10, another 2 into 5, and another saves the money. We can see here that God is pleased with us when we work for His kingdom. If we can do a lot with a little then we will be asked to do more with more. However, the man that did nothing with the money was scolded. Jesus does not want us to be lazy and do nothing for His kingdom.
Application: serve the Kingdom in any way possible so as long as you can handle it. Serve the church by being a leader, co leader, praise leader, food maker, volunteer, helping the poor, cleaning the church, helping your leader, helping your pastor, praying for the sick and needy, the list goes on and on. What can you and I do to better Gods kingdom here on earth?