Welcome to The Turnaround!
Introduction
Today, you have the opportunity and requirement to risk your life for unspeakable eternal gain. You don’t have to make a decision of whether or not to live a significant life- you’re already signed up! Our choice is whether or not we will use each talent God has entrusted to us, or lose them to those who will.
Insight
Once again We see Jesus’s own words and this time He is speaking in parables. He tells about a master who went on a long journey and gave his riches to his three servants to use in his absence. Two of the servants traded and obtained more for their master while he was away, but the “wicked and lazy” servant buried the portion he controlled to avoid the possibility of losing it.
What you and I each carry from God is of such extreme value that it exceeds all of the world’s stock markets, and then some; because every believer has the potential to influence other souls for eternity.
In God’s Kingdom, all of us, from the greatest to the least, are required to make investments of extreme consequence. There is no avoiding the significance of what we use or don’t use. It doesn’t matter what our current or past ability was – every servant received at least one talent, and each one has inestimable worth.
Remember that a banker’s business is to earn more interest with your money than the interest they pay you. Jesus is saying here that even if you have every excuse in the world to not use your intellect, opportunities, resources, relationships, experiences, and more,to make disciples (especially among children) then you can “deposit His money with the bankers.”
What does that look like? In God’s eyes, If you don’t have a God-fueled passion that inspires you to accomplish impossible feats, then you should deposit your talent with those who do. Learn to serve another man’s divine vision if you have to. That’s the least we must each risk.
Disuse is more wicked than misuse. God can teach, rebuke, correct, and train misuse of talents. He can give you another one if by some unusual circumstance you lose it. But the person who fears losing a talent and so decides to not use it enters into a death spiral of inertness and apathy that is difficult to exit.
We are given the most valuable resource the Lord has to offer- The Word. Before Jesus left He entrusted us with sharing the gospel, loving others, caring for the poor and the sick, etc. We are to use the gifts and talents He has given us for God’s purposes. We are called to invest our lives, not waste them.
Turnaround Question
Who in your life used their talents to make sure you experienced the joy of living in God’s Kingdom?
What would your life look like today if the parents, teachers, and mentors who influenced you had instead decided to bury their talents for fear of doing a bad job?
How are you investing your talents for this generation of children?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank You for creating me and saving me to know You eternally. Thank You for taking the risk to become like me, even as a child, to bring my heart back to You. You humbled yourself to be a baby here on earth. Please help me to risk myself for others like You did for me. I need your help to change and walk in love and not fear. You said You would be with me always wherever I go. So if I feel afraid of using the talents You gave me, I trust You will help me. These talents are yours, and I am honored to have the opportunity to use them. I pray to become the very best person to use these particular talents for Your Kingdom! Lord, help me to teach children about Your love and to use the talents You have given them. Lord, teach the children of this generation to be FEARLESS for Your glory!
In Your Holy Name I pray, Amen.
