Wednesday, February 9, 2022

        God is the source of our blessings.  James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  God usually blesses us so we can serve Him with what He has given to us.  God’s blessings were never intended for us to hoard or lock away in a secure vault.  Not at all.  Jesus told a story in Matthew 25 that helps us to understand why God blesses us.  The story is commonly called “The Parable of The Talents.”  You may recall it.  A wealthy man who was going on a long journey left three of his servants in charge of his property.  He gave them five, two and one talent(s) respectively.  After the journey ended, the owner came back to see how well his servants had done in caring for and managing his property.  The first servant doubled his five talents into ten.  The second servant turned his two talents into four.  But the third servant had nothing to show.  He hid his one talent in the ground and had only one talent to return to the owner.  The owner was disappointed that this third servant had nothing to show for what had been entrusted to him. 
            The owner concluded the accounting in this way.  “Take the talent from him [the third servant] and give it to the one who has ten talents.  For everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:28-29).  The Lord’s message was simple—get busy using what God has given you for His glory!  There is no greater or better time than now.  There will never be a more urgent time that this day. Today, we all possess some sort of blessings.  God may bless you with wealth, money, resources and assets that you can use to honor Him, assist others and to support the work of the gospel.  God may have blessed with you with talents, skills, abilities and passions in life.  Whatever you are good at doing is certainly a way that you can glorify God and advance the cause of the gospel message.
            One thing we can clearly conclude is that God does not want us to sit on our blessings.  We are blessed to be a blessing.  We are given what we have so that we may show God what we can do.  The Bible points to a time when we will all give an accounting for how we have lived our lives.  The basis for that accounting is simply a review of what we have done with all that we have been given.  How faithful have we been as stewards of God’s gifts and blessings?  Paul put it this way, “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).  We want to be able to present to the Lord a good and faithful reporting of how we have used the blessings He has provided over the span of a lifetime.  We want to show a lifetime of faithfulness where we have joyfully and gladly served Him through the doorways He opened for us. 
            If we have been unfaithful or even unsuccessful in using what we have been given, we can ask for the Lord’s forgiveness.  Repent of your failures, indifference or even laziness.  And going forward, we can seek to do much better.  We can aspire to be like the first two servants in Jesus’ story and not like the third one.  God offers us the chance to lean eagerly and joyfully into what He would like us to do with the blessings He has given to us.  How wonderful would it be to sit down with the Lord one day to learn that the blessings you used brought people to salvation, members to our church family and children to know the Lord in a personal way?  Faithfully use what you have been given.  The Lord plainly teaches that good and faithful service leads to more opportunity and greater ways to serve Him.  May we not be sidelined by inactivity or bad habits.  May we serve for the joy that it brings and for the glory of God to be known throughout our community.  Have a great Wednesday!