She listened quietly on the other side of the phone all the while I was fussing. As the conversation drew to an end, my aunt said ‘Do you remember the guy with the one talent?’ Gently reminded me of this scripture in Matthew 25:15…Like cool water pouring over on a hot day, my soul was refreshed.I don’t want to nag like that guy or be like him. By the end of our talk I learnt some valuable life lessons.
Maybe you have been complaining and whining a lot lately, then this will refresh your heart.
*It is a long read and you might want to bookmark this page*☺
Familiar chapter, right?
What you don’t know is, many times, we run around like this servant with one talent.
Let me explain….
What really is your “gift”? Like the servant in the parable, the Lord has deposited gifts in our lives. And because we don’t recognize it we complain.See it this way…
Your one gift may be your not-so-great job with little pay, so we complain.
Your one gift could be your small house, so you nag about it.
Your one gift could be your tiny-barely-moving car, so you keep grumbling about that
one.
one.
Your one gift could be where you live, in a rugged and rough area in town, so you
criticize it.
criticize it.
Your one gift could be___________
But do you see something good about it?
Again like the one-talent servant in the Bible, are you too busy comparing your gifts to those around you?
When things don’t swing your way, it is easy to think your gifts are not useful or they are not good enough, or you think it doesn’t match up to those around you.e.t.c. Point is, when you go around with this attitude you become a lot like the servant.
The servant clearly went about his dissatisfaction the wrong way!
1. He was angry: Complaining gets you angry. This servant in the story wanted more clearly because others had received more. Well as humans…. that is understandable.
Here is something to think about….
Do you have the capacity to handle more, right now?
Have you gained enough wits and prowess?
God doesn’t bestow on us more than we can handle. He knows our abilities and allows us grow and get there.
2. He buried his gift: Complaining doesn’t let you see beyond what you think is wrong. You only see faults and nothing else. He couldn’t see past the fact that it was only one gift. Rather than work on his gift, he chose to bury it instead.
Call to Action: Unearth your buried gifts now and put them to good use
Jealousy and anger are twin negatives that buries your gifts
3. He wasted time: One reason, I love David is his attitude towards life. Here was a man chased to all corners of the country yet he didn’t complain. He sought for ways to get
the issue resolved.
the issue resolved.
As hard as it is, we should not lie around creating excuses for ourselves. Complaining not only steals time from you, it wastes your productive energy.
When you complain you only hear yourself and no one else.
Call to action: Quit complaints and comparisons; get productive with your time and energy.
People who achieve great things have few complaints except they wish they could do more.
4. He was un-teachable: I closely read through this scripture again and I ask myself…
While everyone else was working, what was this guy doing? Yikes!!
Why didn’t he learn how to multiply his one talent?
You won’t have the guy with five talents around and be obstinate enough not to learn how he increased.
Call to Action: Learn from the people who are ahead of you in business, ministry, vocation etc. you will never regret it!
That’s what this servant didn’t know. You need to use this one stuff, get better and then you have more coming your way. It is time to quit complaining and I invite you to switch over to these four instead.
4 Things to do instead of complaining
1. Learn to Be Grateful: Be thankful for where you are on your sphere of your life. Be thankful for who He has made you to be (2 Corinthians 4:15).
2. Learn to Be Faithful: God is searching for the faithful to commit great things into their hands. Whatever you are doing do it with all your heart (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
3. Learn to Be Diligent: You will bear rule and increase when you get diligent (Proverbs 12:24).
4. Learn to Learn: The core basics of being on top is humility. It takes humility to admit you don’t know and to learn what you don’t know (1 Thessalonians 4:11). It takes wisdom to admit you don’t know and humility to learn what you don’t know
By His Great Grace,
Ifeoma Samuel