Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Mike Huckabee
Our Greatest Mission in Life is Developing Christ-Like Character
God has a mission for every one of us. This mission isn’t necessarily the kind of mission you see in action movies. There are no secret fortresses to infiltrate, prisoners to free, enemies to neutralize, or secret government documents to liberate. While God’s mission for us might not be as dramatic as the missions you see typically in Hollywood movies, the mission he has laid out for us is nonetheless extremely important. His goal for our lives is to develop our character. And we’re not just talking about any kind of character development. He wants us to develop Christ-like character.
The Parable of the Talents and our Characters
One of the most powerful parables regarding character development in the Bible involves the three servants with the talents. The servants’ master gave each servant varying amounts of gold talents. He then went on a journey. When he came back, he asked each servant to give an account of what they did with what he left them with. The first servant doubled his money. The master was pleased. The same goes with the second servant. The third servant, however, just buried the talent his master gave him. The servant thought the master will be fine with simply being returned the talent he entrusted to his servant. The master was far from pleased. You see, Christ is the master in the story and He wants us to grow. It’s not that he wants to earn when he didn’t work, as the third servant alleges, but he wants us to grow. He wants us to start with a little but end up with more.
The talents in the parable can be applied to our character. We are all born with unpolished characters. However, as noted by Governor Mike Huckabee in his quote, we have treasures deep inside us which can be unlocked. It is up to us to unlock our character, to polish it and to present it to our master at the end of our lives. Christ, our master, wants us to present to him polished characters. In other words, when we started out with impatience, we become patient. When we started out selfish, we end with selflessness. And so on down the list of character traits we have. Contrary to what the third servant said in the parable, God actually gives us the power to grow our talents and to polish our character through his grace. We only need to claim God’s grace to help us develop the character we need to present to Jesus when we see him face to face. God’s grace will give us the strength to develop the character God expects of us.
