Don't hide your talent.

Matthew 25: 14-30

Due to the length of this passage, I decided to put a link to the verses.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:14-30&version=31

When we speak of talents, we are talking about a person’s ability. When Christ told the parable of the talents, it referred to a unit of money totaling over 1000 dollars. It was this parable that gave us our current meaning. It went from meaning money, to something of great value, to something special, and then to a special ability given to a person for use and improvement.

In this parable, a man goes on a journey. Before he leaves, he gave talents to each of his three servants based on their abilities. I believe that when Christ told this parable, he was preparing them for the day he was going to leave them to “prepare a place” in his father’s kingdom.

God only gives us the abilities we can handle, and he gave them to us for a reason. The only way for those gifts to increase, and become more productive for him, is by using them. This is what the first two servants did. The first servant was given five talents; he went out and got five more. The second servant received two talents; he went out and got two more. When the master returned, (the second coming of Christ) the first two servants proved they were worthy of his calling.

The third servant knew what his master had called him to do, but fearing failure and his master’s wrath, decided to hide his one talent. When he tried to give the talent back, the master took the talent, gave it to the first servant, then told the third servant he was wicked and lazy, and threw him out in the darkness.

When we hide our talents, they become dormant, and don’t produce anything. They don’t disappear, but by the same token, they don’t grow either. Since our talents and abilities give us a purpose, when we hide them, we live without purpose.

The good news is since we never really lost our talent, we can get it back. We need to acknowledge that we have a talent, figure out what it is, start to practice. If we follow these steps, our talent may come back slowly, but it will soon grow until it goes beyond anything we thought we could handle.

By bringing our talents out in the open, and living our lives with purpose, others will start to see the change, and become encouraged to do the same.

Challenge: Use your talent as often as possible, so that others can follow your example.

Enjoy,
Allen

Different gifts, one purpose

Romans 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.


I admit it, there were times in my past when I used to feel superior to so many people I worked with, because of my creativity, and ability to learn fast. As time went on, I started looking at those people, as people, and I didn’t feel so superior. Yes, I had a lot of book learning, and I could come up with creative solutions to problems on the spur of the moment, but they had other abilities. I worked with one person that, no matter how hard I tried, he was much faster at the job than I was while maintaining a decent level of quality. The more I looked the more I realized that everyone is a genius at something, which is why no one is any better or worse than anyone else.

God has given each one of us a different set of gifts to serve him, and others, in different ways. Like the verses Romans 12:4-5 says, we are all part of one body, but we each serve a different purpose. Not everyone was given my level of creativity just as I wasn’t given someone else’s physical agility, and while I was given the ability to learn quickly, there are others who can learn much quicker.

Our differences make us so valuable to each other, and give us individual focus towards one purpose in God. I am always amazed at work when the night crew complains about the day crew, and the day crew complains about the night crew. This is not an isolated incident; it’s the same with every company I’ve worked for, where there are three shifts. The night crew has no idea what the day crew does, and the day crew doesn’t know all the different things the night crew has to put up with to get the store ready.

The point of this is, instead of complaining about others to make themselves feel better about themselves, maybe they should look at the other person’s strengths and weaknesses to see where they can work together for a common goal.

Challenge: Look closer at the person you’ve been criticizing lately and see them for their individual strengths, how can you work with them, instead of against them.

Enjoy,
Allen

The door of Love

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you that our god may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of God and the lord Jesus Christ.

I remember when in elementary school gym class how we would always do sports that required two people picking their teammates. Of course, with flat feet and pronation, I was always one of the last ones called to be on a team. This process never really bothered me though because I had a mental strength that helped me to learn fast, and a creativity that wouldn’t quit. As I grew older, I realized that I was called before I was born to a purpose that only God knew.

God has given each one of us different gifts at different levels of ability. Some he has given creativity, some he’s given logic, just to name two. What he wants from us is to be worthy of his calling.

How can we be worthy? We can only be worthy through our faith in him, and it’s through our faith in him that he can show us the potential of our gifts. Faith is an act of free will. According to Revelation 3:20 Here I am, I stand at the door and knock, If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

God will never force us to let him into our lives; it is only through the strength and courage of faith that we are able to open the door to him. Once we open the door of love by our faith, Christ can bring fulfillment to our purposes and acts of faith so that he can be glorified in us and us in him.

Challenge: Open your heart to Christ and listen for his calling.

Enjoy,
Allen