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 <*}}}><