Reading through the parable of the talents this morning (Matt. 25:14-30) left me questioning, how do you expand what has been given to you? The man who hid the talent wasn't criticized necessarily for his attitude, but more for his lack of expansion. He had returned what had been given to him, but it seemed the master desired expansion of that gift. And he had the ability to do so - it says in verse 15 the talents were distributed "to each according to his ability." So I prayed about how to expand what I've been given.

The first thing is to acknowledge what I even have, if I know what that is. If I know it, I shouldn't hide it with a false humility. But what do I do with that?

Later, I read John 13:3-5. Jesus knew what He had been given; He had been given all things, and He knew who He was. So what did He do with what He had been given? Did He "lord" it over the disciples (as He had told them before not to do)? No, He instead took the lowest position and served. He poured water on them, and washed them. He dried them. He restored them.

As Christians we know who we are. Like Jesus, we know we belong to God and will return to Him when our days here are over. And, like Jesus, we know we have been given all things through Him. So, likewise, what should we do?

We should pour out ourselves, and what we have been given to others. As I read this I realized it answered my question from earlier, for as we in humility pour out that which we've been given, it will be caused to expand. And that pleases the Master, our Lord.

In Philippians 2, it says Jesus gave up the glory He had in Heaven in order to come to earth to save us. He arrived as a baby, fully dependent upon the Father for His care. He humbled Himself to do so, just as we are to humble ourselves before the Father and become like a little child to enter the Kingdom. As Jesus was, we are to be born again into a new destiny, a better destiny, than staying where we are. He could have stayed in Heaven among the glory of God, but instead He humbled Himself and became dependent in order to enter into an even yet better plan, the plan of salvation for man. It was the more difficult road, the humble road of dependence for His care and destiny, giving up control and surrendering Himself, but yet it is the model we are to follow to enter the Kingdom as well. Like Nicodemus discovered, the crowd with the child was shown, and the writer of Philippians learned, humble dependence upon God for our destiny is the best plan and the one that leads us into Him forever.

The other day I was reading the discussion of Jesus with the Jews in John 8. The final question of the Jews is, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" To this Jesus replied, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am."

It hit me when I read this that the verb "to be" is very foundational in God's declaration of who he is. When He said, "I AM" in revelation at the burning bush to Moses, that's all that needed said. Then here in John 8, Jesus references this once again in his declaration to the Jews. It's throughout Scriptures. The very basis of who God is, who He claims to be, and how He reveals to us these things of Himself, are all referenced to using the verb "to be."

And (this is the cool part), there is not one language I know of that doesn't have "to be" as the very central, most crucial verb in the language. I'm not a linguist, so there could be room for correction here, but it's amazing to me that when God divided the languages at Babel, He still included as the very core of each language the very verb that He needed to indicate just who He is.