Complacency & Talents (Round 2)

In fairness to those who didn’t read my blog post Complacency & Talents last year, here’s an excerpt of what I wrote. You can read the entire post filed under the 2011 archives (week of April 18, 2011)

(From April 18, 2011): What talent have you buried? I know a lot of people and many of you have made your talents known to me. And I must ask, what are you doing with them? I beg you not to let them go to waste, because your talent is NOT just for you. Only you can do what you do with the talents that have been bestowed upon you. Now you might think your talent is small, but in God's eyes, it's important! No matter how big or small your talent is it's the ticket to put you where you need to be in your life.

(July 2012)

Matthew 25:14-30 was the focus for that post and it will be the focus for this post. It’s been said that you can learn from people who succeed and from people who fail. Successful people can teach us things; and people who fail can teach us what not to do. I’m going to focus on people who fail for this post. You probably know people who have gone through life “I woulda, shoulda, coulda done this.” They stop there because they don’t want to add this after the phrase, “because I was complacent or I was told to consecrate myself, time and talents and everything which the Lord has blessed me with or which He may bless me to my local church, denomination, or religion.” No legacy is left, no lives were impacted, and the closing chapter of some people’s lives become full of resentment, disappointment, and their attitudes become bitter and mean.

If we are wise, we should learn from them. We know many people around us who have talents or are gifted in a specific area, but they don’t do anything due to fear, negative friends and family, or just downright complacency. I said I was going to reference the scripture in Matthew, let’s go there. A master had servants and gave one servant 5 talents, another 2 and another 1. The first two doubled their talents, and the last one sat on it. Many people stop after verse 26 where the master called the servant who sat on his talent a “wicked and slothful servant!” Verses 28 through 30 are crucial points that we can learn from. The master went on to say this to the slothful servant, take his talent and give it to him who has 10 talents. To everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.

We all have been blessed with a specific talent (some may have more) or a specific ministry that is uniquely different (some of us need to stop trying to be carbon copies of others – that could be a lesson all by itself). Sometimes God will call you to a ministry or to use your talent that may not be lucrative in the natural or appear to minister to people while you're alive; however, that ministry or you using your talent to the fullest while you were alive will leave a legacy after you pass onto life eternal. I beg you my brothers and my sisters to be free from the spirit of complacency.