I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” many times before and for most of you if you’re honest, you’ll even admit to making the statement yourself.
Well, a couple of weekends ago I atteneded the Millionaire Mind Event in London, UK and as I sat in the hotel room waiting for my friend to get ready, I picked up my Bible to get a last minute read before attending the first day of the event, and I opened up to Matthew 25 and started reading the story of the talents.
I have read this story so many times since a child but two things really hit me:
- No matter how small you might consider your ability, you either use it or lose it! Matthew 25:18 tells us that the servant who received the one talent didn’t think it important enough so he dug a hole in the ground and hid it!
What’s worse, when his master returned he made excuses as to the reasons why he hid the talent… “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man… and I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look there you have what is yours.“ (verse 24-25)
This is a problem I see so much in Christendom it frightens me. I hear people speaking about their gifts being God’s gifts as if God is still holding on to them. He isn’t!! He’s given those gifts to you for you to use them and as long as you think they’re not yours, not only are you likely to abuse them, you’re unlikely to use them to the highest potential that God intended for them to be used.
The principle of the “Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer” is actually grounded in the Word of God. Hear me out here before you click the back button!
- The one talent that the servant hid was taken away from him and given to the servant with the ten talents (v.28) and then in verse 29, we’re told “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”
Just to clarify that last point, this isn’t suggesting that if you’re poor or not so well off that you’re going to lose everything because the fact is, you can be rich and lose everything. Your responsibility is to be faithful to your calling, to use the gifts that God has given you, no matter how small or insignificant you might think your gifts are.
So the only thing in question here, is your faithfullness to perform the service that God has called you to and what might seem insignificant to you could be a huge service to someone else.
For example, I dislike ironing with a passion and so I have a lady who does my ironing for me. I praise her so often because she’s more efficient at ironing than I am and she does it with a smile on her face!!
If you only have a little but use it for God’s glory, He will ensure that what you have expands and the more you get, the more you’ll get. Think about the snowball principle here. You start off with a little ball of snow in your hand, add more to it and then it will get to a size where you can roll it on the ground and it really starts getting big then!
In my next blog I’m going to talk about the role of knowlede in the fulfillment of our calling and why I believe what we have is directly related to what we know, understand and do. You don’t want to miss it so go to the top of this page and sign up to receive my blog updates.
Blessings to you all,
About Trish Jones