Faithfulness is Success

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with my 8-year-old daughter about using the gifts and talents that the Lord has given her and not hiding or being afraid to use them, but instead using them to bless others and give God glory.

I was reminded of the Parable of the Talents. It’s a story about a master who entrusts different amounts of talents to his servants while he is away. When he returns, he asks them what they have done with the talents they were given. The first two servants took the talents they received and doubled what they had. The master’s reply was, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21)

Then he came to the last servant, and the servant told his master that he was afraid, so he hid his talent in the ground and did nothing with it. The master was upset and took away his talent and gave it to the one who had more talents.

I told my daughter that she can’t hide the talents God has given her. A lot of times we “hide” our talents by thinking, “I’m not good enough. Someone is better at this than I am. I’m afraid I won’t be successful at this. I am afraid of failing.”

After sharing this with her, I walked away from that conversation and realized that I have a lot of the same fears that she does and that the servant had. I’m afraid I’m not good enough. I’m afraid of failing. I’m afraid of someone else being better. I’m even afraid that I don’t have a talent. I’m not a designer; I’m not an artist; I’m not crafty. There is nothing that I have to offer.

It made me realize that I’ve been trying to hide and bury my talent. While my talent may not be as glamorous as others, I need to be faithful with what the Lord has given me. No matter how great or small that gift may be, whatever the Lord has entrusted me with, my success is found in my faithfulness.

Ruth Chou Simons says it so eloquently:

What you do may not look like titles, badges or letters behind your name, but God’s pleasure in your everyday faithfulness will be your name graven on His hands and His welcome when it matters most.

Beholding and Becoming, p. 113

Maybe you are like me and you’ve buried your talent and hidden it away. Maybe it’s time to get out the shovel, start digging and be faithful in using the gifts and talents the Lord has entrusted you with. Praise God that His mercies are new every morning. Today is a brand-new day and the possibilities are endless. Let’s see what the Lord will do when we place our trust in His nail-scarred hands.

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