The Unfaithful Servant and the Prodigal Son

A hard truth I learned from Matthew 25

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
- Proverbs 16:3

My writing journey has been a funny road. I have been all over the place with it. It’s like the back-and-forth roads of mountain passes. I have been all over the place.

Yet, I am starting to find my straight path. At least, I think I am.

It’s taken some time to do it too.

I could tell you my entire story of writing and publishing again, but I don’t think that will be as interesting. Or at least, it won’t be anything new.

However, I have been thinking about this new phase in my writing journey and wanted to share some thoughts with you this morning.

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Last year, I made a sizeable chunk of my income from writing. And while that was super nice for my family. I wasn’t very faithful in stewarding it and my gifting; much of it has dropped off. Nearly all of the income I was making has disappeared.

Some would say this is how things are for writers and online creators. For some years, things have been really good. While others, well, they aren’t so good.

And while this could be true, I believe it has more to do with the idea of being faithful with a lot or a little. It’s a Bible story I have been returning to, and I think it holds to my situation.

Faithful and Unfaithful Servants

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ - Matthew 25:23

In this passage, there is a master who gives out a portion of his money to three servants. The first two servants use that money to make more money and essentially double what the master gave them.

They receive the blessing above from their master, who puts them in charge of many things. We see this time and again in the Bible. If someone stewards the provisions of God well, then he puts them in charge of more.

However, the third servant in this story buried what the master gave him and did nothing with it. And in that, the master said, “So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.”

The third servant wasn’t faithful to his master. He allowed fear to take over, and he buried the money. Jesus ends the story with this:

For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. - Matthew 25:29

I have not been a faithful servant. I took the gifting the Lord gave me and hid it away. Then, I went out and essentially gambled it with other things. What do I mean?

Squandering My Gift

I was given a dream or vision a few years back, and God made it plain to me that I was to use my writing to do things for his Kingdom. It was plain as day to me. And I started to do so.

But then, out of fear and being influenced by the community and culture I was around, I changed course and started creating things that weren’t about what God called me to write about.

For a time, these things were profitable.

But, as I can see, it has all gone to waste. That profitability dried up. And now, I am back to where I was before I started following the call on my life. I’m back to the income and reach that I was three years before that dream.

Now, I don’t think this is about punishment. I believe what has happened is that God knew the way forward, the way that was right for me to grow in my gifting and abundance, and I decided not to take it.

And because of this, I missed out on that growth and abundance. God didn’t take it away from me as much as I gave it away by not following the call he placed on my life. Like so many before, I thought I knew better than God.

I was wrong.

Where do we go from here?

You might have experienced this before. Maybe you have had God give you insight into something you are doing, and you thought it was crazy, so you didn’t do it. Now, you sit and struggle as I do.

In the last few months, I have learned this is not uncommon.

Knowing what I know now, I have a decision to make. Like the Prodigal Son, I have to decide what I will do. Do I continue down this path and forever be stuck? Or do I turn back to the home and calling that I received three years ago?

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” - Luke 15:21

It’s time to confess and repent of the ways that led me here. I have fallen short of the calling God has placed in my life. And I have gone before the Lord confessing my shortfalls and repenting against the ways of the past three years.

And here is what happens when we do this:

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” - Luke 15:22-24

There is forgiveness, reconciliation, and celebration. This is available to anyone. And what’s more, when we dig into where God has called us to be and what he has for our lives, it draws us closer to him more than ever before.

So, here I go. I’m turning back to the calling I have had. Here’s the first step: It’s the first draft of the introduction for my next devotional, Experiencing Jesus Like Never Before.

Thanks for sticking with me through this one. I look forward to sharing more!

J.R. Heimbigner

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J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and helping writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!

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