Day 39: Talents

What do we do with the gifts God has given us?

Each of us has been given a measure of talents. Some have them in arts, others in science. Some have them in speech, others in writing. Some have them in math, others in music. Some have them in sport, others drama. Everyone of us is different and God has given to us a different measure of talents. But we all still have talents, and we are all required to use our talents, to work with them, and so bring glory and honour to God's holy name.

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them..." (Romans 12:6)

Our purpose here on earth is to bring glory and honour to His name, and how can we do this besides working with the things that He in His mercy has given us.

I think the problem in our world today is that we tend not to think that all that we have, both our possessions and abilities, is given to us by the grace of God, but that we have earned it and deserve it. That, at-least is the attitude of the world we live in. Man in the centre of the world and he decides how he lives and what he does with his possessions. Man works for himself and reaps the produce of what he has earned; its up to him how he decides to use it.

We, however, must remember that we don't deserve anything. We don't deserve to be living right now; that in itself is a blessing. In addition to this God has granted us gifts to work with in this life. He has given us the house we live in, the car we drive to work, and the money we spend. If it were not for God we would be buried in our sins having no desire at all to work.

Now that we have been given all this we must work with it to show our thankfulness to God for it. Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:25; the man (the 'wicked and lazy servant') who hid his talent in the ground instead of working with it was severely punished, and even what he had was taken away from him. God requires that we work with what we have been given. This means that we cannot be satisfied with half-mast being good enough. Everyone according to his own abilities must use the gifts given Him to his utmost. Then God's name will be glorified in us.

And one more thing, we must use our talents, not for ourselves, and the advancement of our own enterprise, but for the benefit of our neighbour and the body of Christ. There our talents find their 'fulfillment'.