Investing In A Hostile Environment

“And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this [man] to reign over us.” (Lu 19:13-14 AV)

Who ever said that kingdom work would be in a friendly environment?  If I am one of those servants that has to invest money, I might ask the master for a friendlier group of people.  The thought may occur to me that if these people do not want this king to rule over them, then surely these same people will not invest with his servants.  But don’t be too sure.  When all was said and done, those with pounds increased their amount by ten and five.  The only one not to increase their pound was the fearful.  The one who was too afraid to lose what he had and simply maintained it.

Like it or not, the vast majority of those to whom we meet will want nothing at all to do with Christ.  Some may even attempt to take away from us that which God has bestowed.  This is a hostile environment.  This is an environment that rebels against the LORD.  It has always been that way and it will never change.

There were these two bullies in my grade school that were relentless.  Matt and Pat.  They were twins.  Matt, especially, made every day of my grade school life a nightmare.  What I refused to do, though, was to cower to him.  I refused to belittle myself for his pleasure.  I may have tried to avoid him, or shy away from him simply because I did not want the abuse.  However, when abused, I never gave him the satisfaction of crying or running away.  I never went to the teachers.  Other boys joined in.  I was the one everyone else picked on.  But a strange thing happened.  Over the course of a year or so, Pat saw that it was no longer fun and them began to admire me for my resoluteness.  I still remember the classroom and the event when Pat put his twin brother Matt in his place.  Matt was getting under my skin.  And Pat finally told him to leave me alone.  It didn’t stop all of the abuse.  This continued on into high school.  But at least Pat was no longer an enemy.  There may have been several returns on that one talent.  The LORD gave me other friends along the way.  These men, today, are leaders in their community.  Mistreatment was the fertilizer that bore the fruit.

We are not promised an easy time of service.  It will always be in the midst of adversity and hostility.  But toil nonetheless we must!  It is our calling!  It is our responsibility!