“Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant!”
Rev. Roger Acton is working full time as Faith Based Victim Services Project Director with the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network (www.scvan.org). He is also a part time chaplain with Marketplace Chaplains (www.mchapusa.com), providing ministry support to the staff of multiple businesses in the Columbia area, as part of their employee benefits. Covering a span of about 25 years, Roger has enjoyed ministering in Florida, Texas and South Carolina, including about a year as a hospice chaplain, and several years as a volunteer hospital chaplain, locally. With his wife, Cathy, they are celebrating 25 years of marriage this year, with two awesome teenage daughters, Micah and Faith.
“Well done thy good and faithful Servant!” Did you hear that, after you stopped by and helped your neighbor bring in their garbage cans without their knowing it? Did you hear that after your exhausted body and mind collapsed on the couch Sunday afternoon, following you and your wife volunteering in the children’s ministry for the last 15 years? And did you hear that when you complimented the new employee, when other senior management had nothing to say. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” is written in the Bible, King James Version, for this story, in the book of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 21 and again in verse 23. In this parable Jesus shared, workers get to experience a powerful follow up conversation with their boss after receiving one bag of gold each. One of them did not get those words said, after sharing they kept their bag of gold buried the whole time, while the boss was gone. After reading this article, please take time to read or listen to the whole parable, from Matthew 25:14-30 online at Bible Gateway (https://biblegateway.com/passage/),
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Whatever stage of life as a senior adult you are, I first want to encourage you, that God is not waiting to give you a “well done, thou good and faithful servant” till after your last breath escapes your body. When you commit your life to serve others without applause, like Jesus did, you have honored God, and He will honor you in your day to day life. How do you get to hear “Well done, thou good and faithful servant?” When you take time to pray/talk with Him daily. And when God speaks through Scriptures in a timely manner. You can also be an extension of God’s heart with all those you encounter, letting them know: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
In my work life, last year, I had the incredible privilege to be a hospice chaplain in the Columbia area. When visiting with the seniors and hearing their stories related to the Biblical message I would share, I got to acknowledge them as incredibly “good and faithful servants.” By the way, you too can have the opportunity to meet these folks by volunteering to share a devotional, practice your Sunday sermon, make a joyful noise, play bingo, do crafts or provide an old fashioned ice cream social on one of those hot, summer days. With such a plan we can multiply versus simply adding to the list of those hearing these words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
In my life time I have had the privilege to have a front row seat to two family members, who lived out their lives as, “good and faithful servants:” my dad and my step dad. My dad, Dr. Rush Acton, who went to Heaven in the Fall of 1993, after impacting the world for Christ. He was an orthopedic surgeon in South Florida, who took his God given skills and training, and went on several medical missions into multiple South American countries devastated by earthquakes over the years. His life was always on mission, ready to serve and love in the name of Jesus. My mom, Ellie, married another “good and faithful servant,” Harold Grubbs. Harold served God and country in the Army at the end of World War II, as a minister/chaplain and in the marketplace, too. Harold also made the greatest impact on our family, in his persistent desire to share the Gospel with my Great Aunt Edythe. After years of sharing the Gospel message with her, she celebrated her 102 birthday and her first day bound for heaven, the same year. Harold is a new resident in Heaven this last Spring. When I posted his story on my Facebook page, I was not surprised to get many heartwarming words like this: “Harold was a fine man and a faithful servant, we mourn his loss with all of you and join you in taking joy in the knowledge of his salvation.” “Well done, though good and faithful servants.”
In my work with the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network (www.scvan.org), My team and I focus on bringing together faith based organizations with crime victim services throughout South Carolina. This new work has also introduced me to more “good and faithful servants” all over the state. Please keep our men and women, who intersect with these crime victims and their families, in thought and prayer. And as I saw in a prayer for our law enforcement, “give thanks for the constant courage and devotion to duty of each and every officer in our state, and all who take risks to protect our communities.” “Well done, thou good and faithful servants.”
I pray you continue to fully enjoy the blessings of serving others and are an example to the younger. Leave a legacy of faithful service for your family and friends. You serve others, because of God’s call on your life, and the powerful example that was set by His Son, Jesus Christ. Now check this out, Jesus raised the bar for us all: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 New International Version) Experience greater impact from serving with our Lord serving through us! “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”
