Using Your Abilities Wisely
By Johnny Angel
Matthew 25:[14] "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by
the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and
gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. [15] He gave
five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of
gold to the last--dividing it in proportion to their abilities--and then left on
his trip. [16] The servant who received the five bags of gold began
immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. [17] The servant
with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled money. [18]
But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the
ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping. [19] After a long
time their master returned from his trip and called them to give account
of how they had used his money.
So what happens? Do they all live happily ever after? Actually, yes
and no. The master is pleased with the two servants who used what
they had been given. But he was very upset with the servant who did
not use his abilities and try to invest the gold.
Every time I've heard someone speak or write about this passage, they
have placed the emphasis on the servant who did nothing. But I want
to take a different viewpoint.
When we get more and more involved doing things for God, there will
be so many opportunities to do things for God that we will not be able
to do them all. This has been a hard lesson that God has tried to teach
me. I am finally learning to say no and not feel guilty.
But during the past week, God has hit me with another perspective.
Sometimes we can try to force our talents and abilities into places or
situations where they don't belong.
For example, there was a handicapped person in my Astronomy lab on
Monday night. I was going off on one of those guilt trips because I
wasn't sharing my faith with him. But when I got back to my room, one
of my friends needed to talk to me about some spiritual matters. God
wanted me to help my friend. I may still be able to reach that person
later in the semester or it may be that someone else needs to reach that
person. I must accept that.
Our Baptist Student Union is growing a lot this year. I can drive myself
nuts trying to go around and make everyone feel welcome. But I can't
do it all. I must accept that there are already 50 people there who are
commited members who have been there for at least a year. It is also
their responsibility to make people feel welcome. It is better for me to
find a few people each time we meet and get to know them than to say
hi and run off just to say hi to someone else. Also, there are some days
when I just don't feel up to getting around and meeting people.
Sometimes I will sit down at the Nintendo. It seems like some people
come over to check out what's going on there. And God uses that to
open up doors for me to build relationships. I know for a fact that this
works because one of my friends was always playing Super Mario Bros
last year during our weekly fellowship dinner. It opened up the door for
me to get to know her, and now she and I are close friends.
There has been times when I've had to leave right in the middle of a
worship service and I've felt guilty for not been able to stay for the
whole thing. But when I've gotten where I needed to be, people have
come up to me and needed to talk about God.
Last night, I was walking up to my dorm, and a bunch of people were
standing outside talking. I spoke to them for a few minutes, but I felt
like they had really just said hi to be friendly and not to really get to
know me. I came up to my room feeling a guilt trip because I did not try
to minister to them. And one of my friends came up to me needing to
talk about God. Most likely, if I had tried to speak to the other group
about my faith they would not have wanted to listen anyway because
they appeared to be getting ready for a party. And it may be that God
will still open up a door for me to share with them later on.
I also know that some people glamorize the mission field. They think
they can only be serving God in BIG ways by going on some big
mission trip or experience. But the mission field is all around us. God
can use everything around us for His glory if we will just let Him. He
calls some people to go to other places. But He also calls those of us
at home to be missionaries for Him right on our own turf.
My prayer in sharing these experiences is that you will understand that
we can't do everything. And we shouldn't go on guilt trips just because
we do not have the ability to reach out to some people. There are
other Christians who may have the ability to reach some of the people
who we can't. However, the important thing is that we reach the
people that we can reach. We must not just sit there saying someone
else will do it. God wants to use all of us and the special abilities that
He has given each of us.
As long as you're letting God use you, you're doing okay. Being
involved in the work of His kingdom is a key way that He can show
you the plans He has for your life. Just don't be like the servant who
buried his bag of gold instead of using it. Be like the servants who took
the gold and made more money. Notice that one of them was given
five bags and the other was given two bags. Use whatever God has
given you to build up the Kingdom!
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><