Most people assume that since I have an education, I don’t know how to do anything other than teach. When I worked on staff at various churches, I liked keeping it that way. But in one church the Senior Pastor discovered that I’d worked in construction. After he became ill, I was given the responsibility of overseeing our members in the remodeling a building we had purchased. On the Saturday before our first service the following day, only two adults and a few teenagers showed up to help. Our final project was completing the ceiling in our 800 seat, 30 foot high sanctuary. I almost sent everyone home doubting we could accomplish the task before us. Yet, I felt the Holy Spirit was instructing me to “use what I had and trust Him.” So, with this handful of unskilled laborers after a long day at 11:30 PM, I installed the last section of the ceiling. We had service there the next morning.
I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. God blesses and uses what He has provided. Jesus told the parable of a business man who was going on a journey and left his servants various amounts of the talents (money) to invest. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one. Why did he give them different amounts? He gave them different amounts, each according to his own ability (Mat 25:15). Only one servant had the ability to be responsible for five. The man who received two did not have the ability to handle five. The man given only one didn’t have the ability to handle two or five.
Both the five and two talent men invested what their master had given them and doubled the investment. Of course the one talent man was afraid and buried his in the ground—essentially doing nothing with his talent. When the owner returned, he was pleased with the increase of his money and commended the two servants and put them in charge of many things. However, he was highly displeased with the servant who had buried his one talent. He took away the one talent and threw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness.
For years I’ve taught that if churches could motive their one talent members, there would be no limit in what a church could accomplish for God. However, we live in such a ‘more and more; bigger and better’ society; it’s easy to feel insignificant. However, having less ability doesn’t make us inferior. God made us that way. I have certain abilities because God designed me with these skills. David wrote, for it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb (Ps 139:13).
We are each given spiritual gifts, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us (Rom 12:6). Now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired (1Co 12:18). Having less ability or fewer spiritual gifts doesn’t make us less of a Christian. The problem arises when we begin seeing our gifts and abilities as synonymous with our spirituality or we gauge our importance based on a comparison to those who have more. God is pleased when we faithfully use what He has provided us.
I couldn’t begin to count the number of sermons and teachings I’ve heard. Some great ones and some I wish I could forget. One of the really bazaar messages I remember was from a fundraiser for foreign missions. Here is the gist of his sermon: After lengthy stories about how he was blessed after giving to missions, he concluded by telling everyone that they should go to the bank the next morning and secure a line of credit so they could give an offering beyond their resources and ability. He promised God would bless them with far more than their loan.
God only wants us to give and to use what we have, NOT what we don’t have. If He had wanted us to have more, He would have provided more. As we are faithful with what we do have, He will entrust us with more. As we use what we have, we will grow in our abilities. As a result, God can entrust us with more—talents, resources, and gifts. The little boy in last week’s lesson gave Jesus the five loaves and two fishes he had. Jesus gave thanks and accomplished the task of feeding 5000 men plus their families. The key is giving or using what we do have.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Use what you have and don’t worry about what you don’t have. You possess what you have because that’s what the LORD has given you. Using these resources and gifts faithfully, will make you highly successful in God’s Kingdom.