Luke 19:15 “And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.”

Here in Luke 19, Jesus Christ tells a parable about a nobleman who goes away into a far country to receive a kingdom.

Before he goes, he calls his servants in and gives them all some money to trade with so that they can turn a profit for him until he gets back.

When the nobleman returns and reigns, he calls his servants in to find out what they did with the money he gave them.

And like his servants were accountable to him for what they did with what he gave them, likewise we also will be accountable to God for what we did with what he gave us in our lives.

… And he’s given us a lot. It’s important to realize that our time, talent, ability and very lives are given to us by God.

Notice the phrase “gained by trading” in here, which is actually quite significant. Because really, all our lives are about trading and the trades we make… and we trade with what God has given us.

A trade is when you exchange this for that. And the point of trading is to generate a profit or gain in the exchange of commodities.

We make trades at the shops when we trade money for the items we are buying. We make trades when we work when we trade our time and talent for money from our employer.

Sports clubs understand gaining by trading. At the end of every season, sports teams trade players in and out in order to produce an overall gain that makes their team better.

And the concept of trading applies to the kingdom of God. When you stand before God, it’s going to matter whether your life was profitable to God, which is determined by how you trade with what God gave you.

Please note, being profitable to God isn’t making money, getting famous, winning at sport… being profitable to God is firstly being saved, then being fruitful in a life that follows Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, many people do not get saved or profit God though, because they see the “tradeoffs” in following Christ as a loss, when they really are gain.

But Moses didn’t. He famously traded out the pleasures of Egypt and being the next Pharaoh for following Jesus Christ in identifying with and leading the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt.

Moses made a great trade, but for many of us, we would have seen loss where he saw gain.

And in today’s society, not only are people not willing to make trades to follow Christ, such as things like losing peer acceptance, but they instead trade out the truth of God’s word for short sighted gains in a life of sin and self.

If you read the Holy Bible, you can find out for yourself what trades you need to make in your life, but whatever you do, make sure you are not like the unprofitable servant in this story who ended on zero.

Get saved and seek to profit God rather than yourself… and make truly profitable trades in your life that will be fully vindicated when the King returns in his kingdom.

Blog Bible Christian God Jesus Parable Salvation Saved