The Grand Benefactor

Monday, March 31, 2008

Parable of the grand benefactor

The Child: Nothing really matters
My dad is rich. In fact he is the wealthiest man in the world. He owns basically everything. And the incredible thing is that I am an heir to it all.

Why work?
Why study?
Why care about people, things or anything at all?
Why do anything at all? Especially if it is challenging or difficult…
Life for me is not about working, but is about pleasing myself with new and exciting new stimulations.
I’ve got it made.

It doesn’t matter if I work really hard. It doesn’t matter if I worry about improving things, I am still an heir….aren’t I? He wouldn’t dare cut me out of the inheritance.


Why? Because it does matter.

The greatest gift that our Father has to give his children is eternal life. Or in other words God’s life. And what is God’s life? It is the power to govern, to control, to create. His power is his Word, or in other words his ability to command and all things obey him. When you talk about becoming an heir to all things, it’s really, becoming a joint-heir. Because Father is not going anywhere. He is not going to die and ‘leave’ us these things. He is just inviting us to join him in his command center.

Does it matter if you learn to work? To study? To care about people, things or anything at all? Does it matter if you do things?

Of course it matters. Father is not going to give you an eternity of responsibility in his command center, representing him, if you have no proven capacity to govern wisely, to create goodness, to sacrifice for what is right, to be accountable for your specific responsibilities.

Because all things are obedient to law. And because God creates the law, he is also just, and he keeps the law. He cannot be tolerant of anything who violates the law. For his house is a house of order. And a house which permits willful disobedience for law, creates chaos and anarchy.


The Child
So you’re saying, that I have to learn to work here? I have to learn to listen to him? I have to learn to do good things, even though there are so many bad things I could choose to do? I have to learn to judge between good and bad?

Only if you want God’s greatest gifts. If you are content to live your own life, possessing your own stuff, relating with those who you care to relate to