Investing in the Kingdom

A good friend turned 95 this last week (you know who you are), and it startled me to realize just how fast the time is flying.  I remember this particular birthday because we had been commissioned to send a comment on his 70th that day.  But that was the day the world stood still, 9/11. I’m guessing there wasn’t much celebration that day.   Do you realise that was 25 years ago already?

So, we heard a good sermon while we were on the ship recently.  It was delivered by a very humble and straightforward layman passenger, not a great orator or decorated scholar.  When I commented to him afterwords, I said, “I’ve heard a lot of great preachers, and I’m married to one as well, but that was absolutely a great sermon and I won’t forget it soon.”  He almost cried to feel that God would use him in such a way.

We weren’t the only ones blessed to hear him speak that day. People were lined up with comments and questions so that it looked like backstage after a Taylor Swift concert. But when you break down his message, all he said, simply, was taken from Matthew 25:14-30 where we’re admonished to use what we’ve been given rather than bury it like the poor fellow in Jesus’ parable. 

Now that passage has to be fleshed out by looking at the people hearing it on that cruise ship. Cruises, by definition, are usually made by the “newlyweds and nearly deads”, and you can imagine that there were not many of the former on this cruise. Oh yeah, there was one couple who were on their honeymoon, but they had just celebrated their 80th birthdays. Cute.

It was no surprise to find that almost all of us were retired. Hah. I just noticed that the word is spelled “re – tired” as if recurring fatigue is often repeated. At any rate, we ALL have God-given talents, or “gifts which by decree must be used for the glory of the Kingdom. As Tony often likes to point out, if we have a pulse, God’s not done using us yet. It’s only after we’ve finished the list we’ve carried since birth that we’ll finally be able to the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant … share your Master’s joy” (Matthew 25”23). 

So, as our fellow passenger reminded us, I’m praying that I can do a stock take and see what talents I may still have laying around; then, with a lot of prayer and introspection, decide how best to use those things. I don’t think I’ll be joining the Olympics, but it is exciting to imagine what the future holds. 

Same for all of us: Let’s make a difference, dig up that buried talent that you may have hidden sometime in the past, and invest it in the Kingdom.   Let’s see what happens!

Exciting times, 

Marsha