"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."
Mosiah 2:21
I was reading this morning and happened across this verse which made me think about the idea of "unprofitable servants." In the corporate world we might fire people like this, because what they bring into the company isn't worth the money we are paying them. And, indeed, it also seems to be so at least one one level in God's kingdom. In Matthew 25:30 we read "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." Yikes, right? King Benjamin says that everything we can do still leaves us unprofitable, and Christ in the parable of the talents says that unprofitable servants get booted. Before we panic and give up on life though, let's take a step back and get some perspective. :)
There are two different ideas/lessons here. The first, which King Benjamin is addressing, is the idea that we can "earn" our way into heaven, or qualify for it on our own. In that context, unprofitable means basically that God (in our corporate analogy) is vastly overpaying us for our work, and even when we are brilliant genius employees, we still aren't going to be able to find that kind of pay, in order to pay our extensive debts) anywhere else. God overpays us for our less than optimal work because he likes us and knows that we have potential. If we work hard and stay with the company, our shares of stock (which we also did not even come close to "earning") will make us all zillionaires and we'll all get to retire to the company's private island, filled with "many mansions" (John 14:2).
The other idea goes along with this, but is focusing on a different aspect of our work. Luke 17:10 explains "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Likewise, Christ's comment is in the context of the parable of the talents, and the person that he was referring to as unprofitable was the one who hid his talent in the earth. So, in our corporate analogy, we still work at that same job and are vastly overpaid, but unprofitable means that instead of being grateful and working hard and helping the other people who are in a similar situation in the company... we just do the minimum required and take advantage at every opportunity, taking extensive breaks, browsing the internet when no one is watching, not really paying attention to the quality of our work, and figuring that God is just going to let us skate forever. We require constant supervision, and never seem to even want to learn more about the company, do more than we are forced to, or reach out to help others.
In both cases, we are clearly unprofitable servants, but only in the second case are we risking being fired. :) ... Now, of course, God's plan and kingdom are much more than a corporation, and my vastly oversimplified analogy shouldn't be the way that we think of God, who is our loving Father in Heaven, not the president of same faceless corporate entity. :) Still, though, we don't have to worry about being unprofitable servants in the King Benjamin way. Christ makes up for our inadequacies. We only have to worry about it in the Parable of the Talents way. We need to be grateful for the amazing blessings that we have, and work to also bless the lives of others. :) Today, let's be grateful, and work hard. :)
Mosiah 2:21
I was reading this morning and happened across this verse which made me think about the idea of "unprofitable servants." In the corporate world we might fire people like this, because what they bring into the company isn't worth the money we are paying them. And, indeed, it also seems to be so at least one one level in God's kingdom. In Matthew 25:30 we read "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." Yikes, right? King Benjamin says that everything we can do still leaves us unprofitable, and Christ in the parable of the talents says that unprofitable servants get booted. Before we panic and give up on life though, let's take a step back and get some perspective. :)
There are two different ideas/lessons here. The first, which King Benjamin is addressing, is the idea that we can "earn" our way into heaven, or qualify for it on our own. In that context, unprofitable means basically that God (in our corporate analogy) is vastly overpaying us for our work, and even when we are brilliant genius employees, we still aren't going to be able to find that kind of pay, in order to pay our extensive debts) anywhere else. God overpays us for our less than optimal work because he likes us and knows that we have potential. If we work hard and stay with the company, our shares of stock (which we also did not even come close to "earning") will make us all zillionaires and we'll all get to retire to the company's private island, filled with "many mansions" (John 14:2).
The other idea goes along with this, but is focusing on a different aspect of our work. Luke 17:10 explains "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Likewise, Christ's comment is in the context of the parable of the talents, and the person that he was referring to as unprofitable was the one who hid his talent in the earth. So, in our corporate analogy, we still work at that same job and are vastly overpaid, but unprofitable means that instead of being grateful and working hard and helping the other people who are in a similar situation in the company... we just do the minimum required and take advantage at every opportunity, taking extensive breaks, browsing the internet when no one is watching, not really paying attention to the quality of our work, and figuring that God is just going to let us skate forever. We require constant supervision, and never seem to even want to learn more about the company, do more than we are forced to, or reach out to help others.
In both cases, we are clearly unprofitable servants, but only in the second case are we risking being fired. :) ... Now, of course, God's plan and kingdom are much more than a corporation, and my vastly oversimplified analogy shouldn't be the way that we think of God, who is our loving Father in Heaven, not the president of same faceless corporate entity. :) Still, though, we don't have to worry about being unprofitable servants in the King Benjamin way. Christ makes up for our inadequacies. We only have to worry about it in the Parable of the Talents way. We need to be grateful for the amazing blessings that we have, and work to also bless the lives of others. :) Today, let's be grateful, and work hard. :)
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