The Gifts Of God: Use Them Or Lose Them

Have you ever been afraid to use your gifts, talents or skills? Have you ever thought that your skills and talents were not appreciated by other people? If the answer to either one or both of these questions is “yes”, then you can probably sympathize with the third slave on the Parable of the Talents, which I read from Matthew 25:14-30 earlier in this morning’s service.

The word “talent” represents all of the opportunities God has given his people to serve him. Talents include wealth, abilities and learning. The parable teaches us to invest everything God gives us for his glory. If we want to be faithful servants of Christ, we must use what he gives us to spread the Good News. If we are faithful stewards in this life, we will be rewarded with even greater responsibility in the next life. The reward will be in proportion to the tasks we have accomplished.

Sometimes when we do God’s work, we will not feel appreciated. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve often felt that my ministry has not been appreciated in the community, but I was proven wrong at my recent anniversary service. When we feel that what we are doing for God is not appreciated here on earth, all we have to do is what I did-pray to God. When we please him, we are doing our daily job. The greatest reward God can give will go to godly people who have laboured faithfully without any earthly recognition.

We are encouraged to be better than average. We are encouraged to excel. So why don’t we excel? Why don’t we try? The answer is fear. Fearful servants, are afraid of God. They see him as a harsh taskmaster. They do not see the meaning of the term, “fear God” as “total reverence.” They take the term “fear God” quite literally, and therefore they never multiply the gifts God gave them.

To know God, as the moral slave knew, is to be afraid. To really know God is to agree that he does indeed make his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust alike. To know God is to acknowledge, as the fearful slave acknowledged, that he's a tough man, playing by rules we can easily question and often find deplorable. Such knowledge would make almost any thinking person afraid, and thus it was that the unprofitable slave took up the shield of playing it safe in order to hold his fear at bay.

God is both a generous rewarder and a strict judge. He evaluates our stewardship on the basis of how well we administer the responsibilities and talents he has given us. He evaluates our stewardship based on how well we have kept His priorities instead of our own. If we use his gifts to spread the Good News, we will be rewarded. If we don’t, we will be punished by being separated from him for eternity.

We must master and receive the gifts God gives us, including the gift of time. No matter how old or how young we are, we can still use the gifts God gave us. Even when we are sick, God can still use us. If we master and use the gifts God gave us, we will have plenty of time to grow in faith and spread God’s Kingdom here on earth.

One of the most important gifts we have is our salvation. Sometimes we take it for granted, and sometimes we treat it like one of our most prized possessions. Sometimes we treat it with reverence and respect when we are first saved, but sometimes over time we take it for granted. That is the wrong attitude to have. The gift of salvation is a gift from God, and we are to use it just as we use all of the other gifts he has given us.

Another one of the gifts God has given us is the Gospel. He gave us that gift not so that our ability to spread it can be put to good use, but so that our inability is exposed and God is glorified. We can’t, but God can.

Christ demands faithfulness. If we are faithful we will produce results. If we do not use what God gave us, we will lose everything. We are to dedicate ourselves and all we have been given to Christ so that he can multiply those gifts.

Jesus seems to imply that there will be a long period of time between his first coming and his second coming, but the delay does not mean that he will not be coming. We are duty-bound to expand God’s kingdom in his absence regardless of how long we have to wait for him to return.

God sees everything from the beginning to the end, even if we can’t understand things. He sees our motives. He sees how we handle even the smallest of things, and our future depends on the little things. Contrary to what a popular saying says, we must “sweat the small stuff.”