Are You Hiding Your Talents?
It is easy so many of the times to read through the Word of God and read the parables without truly understanding where in our life they apply to us today. I was showering the other morning, and I don’t know about you but that is where I do a lot of my thinking. There were a lot of thoughts hitting me at one time and I began to think about some projects that I knew God had put on my heart to get done but in all truth, I had been procrastinating. The worst part about it was my procrastination was covered up with, “Well I want to wait and hear if that is what God is REALLY telling me to do.” Because the last thing you want to do is be putting your time into something He didn’t really call you to do to begin with … right? Let’s be real though I was allowing my fear to make me second guess everything God had already given me an unction to move on. (For the record you are not always going to get a thus saith the Lord or a prophetic dream or word to confirm the direction you need to go. Sometimes it really is that still small voice where you just feel lead even though you can’t explain it!) So I’m mid shower lost in my own thoughts and it is like God just broke in the middle of my nonsense with words that cut to my heart. I heard Him say so clearly, “The man who hid his talents.” (Find the whole parable in Matthew 25:14-30) I felt the conviction hit my heart and I just froze because that is exactly what I had been doing, I was hiding the talents He had blessed me with by not moving in obedience. I was choosing to hide them rather than do something with them and all of a sudden it is like my excuses did not matter anymore. My excuses came to nothing before the truth He was bringing to me. I had read over that story so many times and it is easy to read them and think, “Oh that will never be me! I wouldn’t be so foolish as to hide my talents I would multiply them.” But that is the point of a parable. It can seem so obvious to the reader but what is the deeper meaning of the message? In sum I knew that God was saying that by simply not moving on the gifts that He had placed inside of me and holding them back I was the equivalent of the man who hid his talents. What is worse is as I reread over the story I saw the man’s response to his master, “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine” (Matthew 25:24-25). I had let fear hold me back and somehow thought it was a justified reason to not move forward but I quickly found that it was not. I am so thankful for the times when the Lord breaks in and speaks these simple yet profound truths to our hearts. What a wonderful God we serve.
I want to encourage you friend to take a moment and really ask the Lord to bring to your mind the areas where He has been placing that burden on your heart to move but you have held back. Perhaps it is writing a book, learning an instrument, volunteering at your church, the list goes on… Whether it is because you feel unqualified, you feel you are too busy, or you straight up feel you do not even know what you should be doing. I have found in God’s kingdom there is never an excuse because if He leads you to it, He will also give you the wisdom to accomplish it! Even in the areas you are not sure what the next move is remember if we seek we will find, knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7-8). Pay attention to those areas where the Holy Spirit keeps drawing your attention, but you keep putting it off. And I get it, it’s so easy to push off that still small voice! I will do another post on the importance of taking small consistent steps instead of aiming for perfection, but I encourage you today to start somewhere and just become consistent in your effort. You will be amazed where it can take you in just a few weeks, a few months, and then on into years. There is so much ahead of you!
Need encouragement or just need a listening ear? I welcome emails and would love to hear from you!
