Let's not waste what God has given us

Let's not waste what God has given us. I guess we all have different talents and things we can do. 

My son-in-law is absolutely crippled after huge operations to remove cancer, but has he given up on life? He certainly hasn't. He wants to help others in many ways. He could have been sitting at home in his wheelchair, but he really wants to get out and help.

He plays basketball, which I find incredible, and to watch him in his wheelchair is truly so encouraging.

There is one of his fellow members of the team who is completely paralyzed from his chest down, who plays basketball with him. Amazing young man. He has been like this since he was quite young. He dived off a bridge into what he thought was deep water, only to smash his head on a shopping trolley that someone had hurled into the water.

When my son-in-law was in the hospital, he was visited by his friends from the basketball team in their wheelchairs, and they all went down to the cafeteria where they all had coffee and chatted to everyone.

Does life stop when we are hurt or injured? No, it doesn't, which to me is totally amazing considering what people go through and how they are coping. When  I was visiting my boy in the hospital, I was amazed to see many people in wheelchairs and on crutches. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them after they are released from the hospital.

Can we still get around to help others like my son's friend does, even though he is completely paralyzed, like he is, or do we just stay home and not share any of our talents at all?

In the Bible, in Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the story of a man going on a journey and entrusting three of his servants with varying amounts of money. When he gets back, he wants to settle the accounts with the servants. He is really happy with two of them, but not at all happy with the third.

Two of his servants, the ones he gave most of his money to, worked hard and earned a great reward. The master was very pleased. The third servant simply hid the money he was given and gave it back to his master.

The master was not pleased at all. He went really mad at the servant, told him he was lazy for not making any profit on the money he was given. He was totally rejected by the master.

What Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable today is what he was telling his disciples all those years ago. That we are all given some sort of talent or even talents or things we can do. They are actually a gift from God. He doesn't expect us to just sit on these talents and do nothing. We are actually responsible for working on these talents that God has given each of us. Regardless of what these talents are.

When we follow Jesus and come to God and ask him to lead us, we are then called to be productive. Of course, it doesn't mean that we have to turn ourselves inside out to make Jesus love us. We do things and use our talents because of the great love that Jesus showed us when he gave his life for us. 

If we just sit around and do nothing and never use the talents that Jesus gave us, then we have to give an account of that to God. But of course, giving our lives to God and really knowing what Jesus did for us, it becomes a real privilege to help and tell others about God's great love.

God has given all of us certain privileges and talents that we can use. Maybe you have to think about this and consider what your talents may be. On saying this, many of us just waste our talents, and they mean nothing to us. Even attending church and talking and fellowshipping with other believers helps us to recognise and then use the very talents that God has given us.

Do you recognise God at all? Do you know your talents? Do you even care? Like we mentioned above, life doesn't stop regardless of what you are going through. Looking at those young men, all in wheelchairs, all working around, making friends with all, sharing their lives, and finding out about others. That's what they are doing, and it really means so much to other people.

God is his wisdom, and taking into account what Jesus did for us on the cross all those years ago, brings us to a relationship with Christ, and we really want to work for him in countless and often small and sometimes big ways.

Are you reading your Bible at all? God's word is miraculous, and it has so many thoughts and messages; it is amazing, and really, it makes us so much more aware of God and what we can learn from him.

God has given us all amazing gifts, whatever they may be, so let's not waste them or neglect them. Not sure what they are? Search the word of God and try being super nice to someone, and see what happens.

The thing is that we all need to ask God to lead our lives, to be our very first port of call, regardless of what we are going through, not a person who loves dictating to us what we should do. God is our Lord of all, not our sometimes little person we can talk to when things get tough.

God bless you this week. Keep strong in our Lord and God.