Last week, we talked about embarrassment. The kind that shows up when you feel behind. When you feel like everyone else got a memo you missed. When you weren’t taught something, didn’t know what questions to ask, and now asking feels weirdly exposing.
And the basic idea was that embarrassment makes us hide (ourselves, our talents, our contributions, etc.). But it doesn’t always say, “I’m scared.” Sometimes it says…
Now before I call out my own fear-based excuses, let me acknowledge that waiting on the Lord is never a bad decision.
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way […] wait for the LORD and keep his way […]” Psalm 37:7, 34
Yes. Amen.
But this is not that. How often have I called it “waiting on the Lord” when really I’m worrying, impatiently fretting, neglecting prayer, and waiting for a written-in-the-sky-style sign from God? So am I really waiting? Or is it a nice-sounding excuse for inaction?
I’ve found that when I seek the face of God, either He answers me, or He gives me peace to wait in silence.
But anxious fretting ≠ patient waiting.
It’s pre-embarrassment avoidance, isn’t it?
It’s the fear of doing the wrong thing, so I’ll do nothing — no thing. Zero.
The fear of looking foolish — or at least the chance of looking like …I don’t have it all figured out? I don’t even know. But even writing “foolish” feels too strong here.
The fear of choosing a path and later wishing you chose the other one?
The fear of realizing you don’t have control (actually wait, that’s a really good thing!)
At some point in the conversation, I found myself thinking about the parable of the talents.
Different starting lines. Different dollar amounts. Same finish line, for the faithful.
As far as I can tell, Jesus doesn’t hand out any extra praise because somebody started with more. The praise isn’t “Well done, brilliant investor.” It’s not “Well done, impressive strategist.”
It’s: Well done, good and faithful servant.
Let’s break that down piece-by-piece:
Well done — you did well. You did. You did something. Which means you didn’t do nothing. And the thing you did was done well.
Good and faithful — Profound. So much here.
He didn’t say “desperately wicked” (see Jer 17:9 for more context—no, dear Christian, your heart is not still sick and wicked).
He didn’t say “well-educated and wealthy”
Or “efficient and profit-maximizing”
Or “productive and busy”
He said good and faithful
Servant — What an honor and joy it is to serve at the pleasure of the King. We are not professionals. We are not machines. We are not accidents.
The kingdom of God is here—now. Jesus has come and is coming again. So let us not shrink back to inaction out of fear of misstepping. Let allow our faith and trust to fuel our action.
So the shift I want to make (and I think we all need to make) is this: you need a better scorecard, and I’ll write more about this next week. But for today, start with this simple question:
“What would faithfulness look like with what I actually have, today?”
What does “one faithful step” look like in money when I feel behind?
Because a lot of the time, the path forward isn’t blocked by lack of information. It’s blocked by the fear of looking stupid. And the grace of God is not just forgiveness for sin. It’s also joy and strength to move, even when you feel behind.
Is it a budget? Is it a net worth statement? Is it finally asking the “dumb” question? Is it setting up one automated transfer? Is it naming your finish line?
You can do this. I’m cheering you on.
P.S. I snuck two Frozen references into this newsletter — did you catch them??
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