What Are You Doing With Yours?

As Christians, we look forward to the day when we take our rest from this earth and enter eternal life with Jesus. And we long to hear God say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” But how many of us will enter heaven and only hear, “Well? You’re done.”

In Matthew 25:14-30, we read the parable of the bags of gold. Before leaving for a journey, a master entrusts various amounts of gold to 3 servants. Upon his return, the servants who have wisely handled the riches are rewarded with more. But the one who wasted the gold is punished.

Jesus told this parable to help us understand what the kingdom of heaven is like. The bags of gold (called “talents” in the King James Version) represent the gifts that we are given on this earth (for example: teaching, preaching, leading, or writing). Just as the bags were of different amounts, our gifts may be of different values. But it is what we do with them that matters. What good is it if God gave you the voice of an angel—but you only choose to sing in the shower? Or even worse, only use it to sing songs that do not glorify God?

So what does God want from us? Romans 12:1-8 gives us some pretty clear instruction. It begins by telling us to offer our bodies as a “living sacrifice.” That simply means we should turn our lives over to the service of the Lord. It also means going against the “norms” of society, which often tend to be in contention with the ways of God. The rest of the passage gives us wise direction on how to use our gifts well, in a way that is pleasing to God.

What are you doing with your gifts? Are your talents being used to glorify God? Make it your business to enter His presence with a job well done!