Sunday, June 12, 2011

Your Talent or God's?

"We do not live or die for ourselves. If we live, we are living for the Lord, and if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord”. Romans 14:7-8 NCV


We should always remember our talent is our liability.

When we invest money in a savings account at the bank, that money is not the bank’s asset but their liability----it is owed me.

So it is with any talent God gives us; it does not belong to us but to the people for whom God intended it.

Most secular people and some Christians tend to be deceived about that. If God blesses their business, they take the credit. If God gives them good health, they attribute it to taking care of themselves. Their “goodness” is corrupted by self deceit.

Paul has a word here: “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive from God?” (I Cor. 4:7 NIV) These are valuable questions that we are obligated to answer.

If God has bestowed anything special upon us, we must first acknowledge that it came from Him and then use it as it was intended----to bless and encourage others.

The only “asset” we have is the obligation of God and His promise to save us for His eternal glory. Any natural gifts or talents we may have are our obligation, under God, to others.

Paul says, “I am debtor,” (Rom. 1:14 KJV) which puts it concisely. All Paul was he “owed” to others and he did not take his talent and bury it in the ground.

The only way our gifts and talents can live, thrive and prosper is by using them for others. Kept for ourselves---our talents and self will die. The deadness that we find so amazing is not the deadness of inactivity but the deadness of accumulations; “I must look out for number one.”

On the contrary, Jesus says, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38 NIV

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