“You have also given me the shield of your salvation; your gentleness has made me great.” 2nd Samuel 22:36 "Your gentleness…" Many of us grew up under a harsh or hateful father. When a father humiliates a child, or is harsh toward him, or puts too much pressure on him/her, oftentimes it will cause the child to rebel and to live in resentment and hatred. Then that rebellion will be the source of all kinds of troubles down the road, and can end in destruction. Not so the Lord. He is the perfect father. When a person surrenders his life to him, the Lord begins a work in him of transformation. Sometimes that will seem hard, but there’s never anything hard without a reason meant to bring one to spiritual health. A harsh human father never brings health, but God our Father knows exactly how to reach a person. He knows exactly how to heal, and how to bring him/her to health. Our whole concept of God is oftentimes formed from the image we have of our human father because to a growing child, his father is as God to him. If our human father was harsh and rejecting, then we expect God to be that way. If all he has known is hardness, then that’s what he will expect from God. In fact, sometimes a person will stay away from God for this reason, because of a faulty idea of what God is like, harsh and unrelenting, only interested in judging, and destroying rather than nurturing. From the beginning of one’s walk with the Lord, he will marvel at God’s gentleness. When a person realizes his sin, his own warped personality, and then encounters the love of the Lord, it’s very surprising, because he is used to expecting rejection and harshness. It can take many years to unlearn the traits we developed in the past, and to feel and know and accept the love of God. It can take a long time to understand that he truly does love us, and to trust him even when he applies discipline. The Lord does not spare his people from the sorrows of the world, but he walks through them with us, and he actually uses them to mature us and to lead us to discover the great love he has for each one. It has to be experienced to be understood. An unbeliever has no idea of the love of the Father, and goes on in his own “wisdom,” demanding to “do it MY way.” And that is sad, because it will never bring him happiness. Momentary pleasure is all he can expect. On the other hand, the one who has surrendered his life to the Lord will be continually led upwards and will find the very desires of his heart realized – not from his efforts, but from the goodwill of the perfect Father whose plan for his child includes all that fosters health and goodness. He knows each one, he is the One who has made each one unique, and will bring him to the potential he has placed within him, for he is the One who has put within us even the natural desires of our hearts. He will satisfy those desires the right way, in the way that will bring true satisfaction and wholeness. If you have been crushed by life, if you grew up under the harshness of a human father, come to the real Father who brought you into the world and surrender your life to him. You will find him to be the perfect Father who truly, truly loves you and knows how to nurture you and bring you to health. “‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'” Jeremiah 29:11
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country,
who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one,
to each according to his own ability;
and immediately he went on a journey."
Matthew 25:14-15
God has invested in you. He has invested in each one of us, giving gifts and abilities to each - some more, some less.
"...as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."
Romans 12:3
"But one and the same Spirit works all these things,
distributing to each one individually as he wills."
1st Corinthians 12:11
God expects us to invest what he has given us in HIS work. Many ignore what God has invested in them. For whatever reason they bury them and set their minds and hearts on other things.
"And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.
Look, there you have what is yours."
Matthew 25:25
What could be more important in life than discovering what one's God-given gifts and talents are, and then using them for the Kingdom of God? We're on this earth for such a relatively short time, and then we go into eternity. What could be sadder for a believer than to arrive in heaven only to find that he had squandered his talents and left unfulfilled the use he might have made of them - when he discovers "what could have been!"
Every gift and every talent has the potential to bring changes into the lives of others, as those gifts and talents touch their lives and bring to pass what the intent of the master was when he gave it. When one sees that, and sees that it was left undone, how sad.
Brothers and sisters, invest TIME kneeling before God and seeking to know what his plan is for the use of what he has invested in you. This is perhaps one of the most important things you will do in life, because the use or neglect of your talents will have a great effect on others, therefore it is crucial that you have this conversation with the Master. Seek direction from him as to what exactly he has invested in you, and how you are to use it. Don't leave this undone, this conversation can change the course of your life. Don't resist it, rejoice in it, for it is God who is at work in your life to bring your calling to the joy and satisfaction of success, and once you experience that, you'll discover joy that cannot be found in anything else.
The Lord went on to say concerning the one who buried his talent:
vs 28-29:
"Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance;
but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away."
Just think of it - the more faithful you are, the more will be given to you. Perhaps you need to start small, but be as faithful as you can and you will find along the way that the Lord has granted you even more. If you have one talent, use it. Later, more will be given to you and you will find yourself in an abundance you never expected, and when you arrive in eternity, you will greatly, greatly rejoice when you see all that the faithful use of your talents produced - which in many cases you knew nothing about at the time. Such an abundance. All for being ...FAITHFUL.
Please watch this short clip about how one man used his one talent, and the results it produced, even while he never saw the fruit of it until the end. And make sure you have tissues.
"A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands." Proverbs 14:6 Why is that so? It's because the scoffer and the righteous are looking for it in different places. The scoffer gets his input from the world, but the Word of God says that the wisdom of the world is FOOLISHNESS. "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." 1st Corinthians 3:19 Foolishness! That's a pretty strong word. To whom does it apply? It applies to those who dole out "the wisdom of this world. " The world’s college and university professors: Most of the ivy league colleges and universities were founded as seminaries, but today they are centers of "New Age" teachings. They are peddlers of foolishness. Counselors: In order to be a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist they had had to study the teachings of the masters of psychology, Freud, Maslow, Adler, and very many more, almost all of whom were involved in the occult, the realm of the supernatural forbidden to man. Their teachings are foolishness. They will tell you what you want to hear, denying and excusing your guilt, and counseling you how to gain "self esteem," a psychiatric term that builds the person up in pride, the one thing that is most terrible according to the Word of God. The media: We all look at the news of the day without being consciously aware that the news is being "spun." News anchors are puppets. It used to be that the newsmen were supposed to bring you the news, but now they shape the news according to the agenda. It's carefully covered foolishness. And then there's the television and movie industry: Filled with violence, perversion, all manner of lust, laced with occultism and every sin of every kind. How can a person not be a fool when he streams this filth into his mind daily? The righteous have a barrier around them, for they have immersed themselves in the Word of God and they are filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God will react when these evils come to the attention of the believer, and he will sense the evil. The Word of God, having been implanted in him through daily immersion, will alert the believer when he comes across evil, or deception, or foolishness. He will know. But the wicked will not know, nor CAN they. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor CAN HE know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1st Corinthians 2:14 As the end of the age approaches, take a good look at the input you have taken in from the world. Have you been fooled by the foolishness of the world? Ask the Lord to show you any deception that has deceived you, and be prepared to turn from it once it is made known to you. You might be shocked, because most people do not realize what they've taken in and how they've fallen for deception. The Word of God strongly stresses that "the last days" will be characterized by deception. The disciples asked the Lord what would be the sign of his return. The first thing he said was: "And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you.'" Matthew 24:4 Come to repentance, the only remedy for deception and foolishness. Find out from the Lord where you may have been deceived. Your eternity could depend on it. The horrific events of "the last days" are almost upon us: "The coming of the lawless one (the Antichrist) is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and LYING wonders, and with all unrighteous DECEPTION among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of THE TRUTH, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned WHO DID NOT BELIEVE THE TRUTH, but had PLEASURE in unrighteousness." 2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12 What is coming is going to deceive all who did not receive "the love of the truth." There will be no way for them to avoid it because it is God himself who is sending the strong delusion. Don't be among them.