YOUR BEST BIT

Hi there dear friend 😊. 

How are you doing today? How's April going for you so far? Here's hoping that you're making the most of it, and that God continues to give you grace and strength to do His will. 

Welcome to today's gist.

I had a "splash of cold water" experience this morning. So I was reading from Luke 19:11-27, it's the parable of the talents, related in a slightly different way in Luke than in the other accounts: a rich man was set to travel one day, he called his servants and gave them each a talent and enjoined them to do business with it till his return. He travelled for a while and upon his return, called his servants to give account of the money he had given to each of them before he left. 

One servant comes in and tells his master that from the money he received, he was able to make 10 more talents. Pleased, the master praises him and promises to make him ruler over 10 cities for his faithfulness in the talent, presumably 1 city for each talent he earned. Another servant enters and joyfully tells his master that he too was able to make profit from his talent, presenting an extra 5 talents. His master is pleased equally with this servant, congratulating him and offering him rulership over 5 cities, presumably 1 city for each talent he earned. Let's pause for a bit here.

Ever noticed that the master didn't seem any less happy with the servant who produced 5 talents than he was with the one who produced 10? That realization struck me for the first time today. See as I read this scripture, I realized that there was nowhere that the master asked this 2nd servant "why did you not produce as much as the other man did?" No! He joyfully accepted this man's best work and appreciated the servant's effort. As I thought about this, I realized something: God will never make you feel 'less than' or 'not enough'. When I came to this realization this morning, it felt like I was given a cup of really cold water to drink on a very hot day, the thoughts swam through my body system, cooling every part of my body, filling my senses and giving me relief. As we go through life, there's this feeling of self doubt that plagues us, making it seem like you're not doing enough, even on your best day, that you're not worth anything, that you're insignificant and unable to meet up with others… this feeling has you in a state of almost constant comparison with others, mostly always finding yourself falling short. 

But here's the thing, God sees the sincerity in your actions and He definitely will reward you for them, it may honestly not seem like you're doing enough, or anything at all, compared to those around you, but I want you to remember that the race God has called you to is different from the race He's called everyone else to, so in sincerity, give God your best! That's all He's asked for, and it will be enough for Him, even when your best looks like someone else's half effort, He knows, He sees and He will reward. 

Then, at last, my guy shows up. He comes in and tells his master, I didn't bother to make an effort to do anything with what you gave me, here's your talent, at least it should count for something that I didn't squander it, I've kept it for you so take your talent. 

The audacity! 

The nerve!

The effrontery! 

To look his master in the face and spew this rubbish!

As I was about to berate this man in my mind, cold water splash me for face! God legit asked me that okay oo! As you no squander the gifts wey I give you, how many use you don use am? It was a swift change from judge to defendant for me😂. Of course I wanted to begin to make excuses, to tell God of the reasons why I wasn't using my gifts like I should. And for each excuse I thought up, God showed me just how flimsy it was and how I no too too dey do wetin different from this guy. I could admittedly argue, and I'm sure you could too if you put your mind to it, that I hadn't squandered the gifts that God gave me that are unused, I could also argue that at least I wasn't using it to glorify the devil, that has to count for something at least! 

But God didn't give me these gifts for the purpose of merely not using them to glorify the devil, He gave them to me for the purpose of my using them to glorify Him. It is not enough that I am not pleasing the devil with the gifts God has given me, I must take it a step further and aim to use the gifts to make profit for God and His Kingdom. 

And as God showed me myself, all I could do was say sorry.  Because there really is no excuse for my bad behaviour. 

But here's something else that struck me in this story. The master didn't just berate the servant, he took the talent from him and gave it to the man who had earned 10 extra talents. As I was mulling over that, I realized something; ever noticed that when you stop doing something, honing an ability or working on a skill, you most likely lose that ability or skill? The more you leave it unused, the more 'rusty' you become. But make I clear you now, you're not becoming rusty oo! God is simply taking that which you have refused to use away from you because ‭‭ "…‘I tell you that to everyone who has [because he valued his gifts from God and has used them wisely], more will be given; but from the one who does not have [because he disregarded his gifts from God], even what he has will be taken away.’" (Luke 19:26, Amplified Version). 

You're doing yourself no favours by letting the gifts God has given you lie dormant, you're destroying your chances of being who God wants you to be. If like me you have a plethora of excuses for why you should continue to not use the gifts and talents God has given you, I've come to tell you that you're wasting your time thinking your excuses will be enough: they won't! 

I've asked God to help me to make the most use of all that He's given me and bring glory to His name and I aim to begin to effectively start doing just that. And I invite you to do same, think about the abilities and skills that you have, think about how you can put them to good use to glorify God. May God help us, not just to avoid squandering all that He has given us, but to put them to good use for His glory. 

NLS HOT GIST: We had a really enlightening argument in class today about the concept of marriage. The question was "Is having a first class better than having a husband?" I would really like to hear what you think about this question. If you like, you could privately send me your thoughts at achenyosmusings@gmail.com, I'd love to read them. 

Well, that's that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week. 

Love,

Achenyo. 

PS. Don't forget to leave a comment, id love to hear from you.