Investments
In the Parable of the Talents, (Matthew 25:14), Jesus tells the story of a man who gives each of his servants some of his money (talents was a monetary term) to put to use while he is away. Each time I have heard this particular Parable used, it has been in the terms of money management and stewardship. But a recent message I heard brought forth a slightly different take. We are all gifted by God with different gifts. There are the Spiritual gifts, as defined in the Bible. These include Evangelism, Administration, Discernment, Mercy, Helps, Craftmanship, Prophecy, Wisdom, and others. Most churches have Spiritual Gifts assessments that you can take to learn what gifts you possess. Then there are what I call circumstantial gifts. These are the gifts that are dictated by whatever God's plan for your life brings your way. This could include the chance for higher education, or perhaps being born into wealth. It also includes the many lessons that Life teaches us along the way. In this way, you can see how everything comes as a gift from God. It is how we use those gifts that counts. There are three scenarios we can use. In one, we live in fear or self doubt, so we do not use the gifts we have been provided. Instead, we are like the servant who buries his talents. There is no loss, but there is nothing gained either, because no risk is taken at all. Many people live their lives this way; taking no chances in life, and getting nothing in return. Life is boring and seems pointless. In the next scenario, we use our gifts to enrich our own lives. We are investing our talents, but only in ourselves. We become fixated on the accumulation of wealth, power and possessions. We lose all focus on those outside our own little world. We lose all sense of moral right, and in the end, are nothing but husks, with all our soul stripped away. These are the people most concerned with living as long as possible on this world, because eternity has no meaning to them. I believe that this is the condition of a sizeable portion of us in the United States, as well as in many developed countries. In the third scenario, we use our gifts to instead enrich the lives of others. We are investing our talents in others. We use our circumstances to make theirs better. We become like the servants who invested their talents wisely. And there is a return, one which we shall see in Heaven. You see, when invest our gifts in others, there is " a treasure in Heaven" allotted to us. And when those we have enriched, because of our investment, enrich others, our treasure in heaven grows. This will determine your position in Heaven, not how much power or wealth you had on earth. So the one who risks nothing for others will have little in Heaven. But worse, those who invest in only themselves, they are actually building themselves a debt in Heaven, I believe. Jesus told us of the difficulty that the wealthy would have getting into heaven. Many of those who do will find themselves in the lowest positions possible. So, the question is, where are you invested? Where do you want to be? What are you going to do get there? There is nothing wrong with having money. There is no fault in being more fortunate than others. It is all in how you choose to invest. Invest in nothing; have nothing. Invest in yourself; lose everything. Use God's plan and invest in others; and you will gain more than can be imagined. Invest wisely. Thank you to Pastor Bruce for the inspiration for this post.
posted by the voice @ 7:44 AM
2 Comments:
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