Use it or lose it

 Have you ever heard the expression "use it or lose it?"  As I get older, I often hear that said in regards to physical fitness and even mental fitness.  While the expression fits with both of these, this morning I was thinking about it another way.  Have you read the parable of the talents?  In the book of Luke, it is "minas" rather than talents, but the idea is the same.  In all the Sunday school lessons I have heard, we focus on the parable as one showing us we need to cultivate and use our talents for the kingdom.  I want to look at that with a little bit of a twist.

Luke 19:20-26 says, "Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave.  Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?  Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come I would have collected it with interest?'  Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.'  And they said to him, 'Master he has ten minas already.'  I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away."

In an effort to better understand this passage with more insight than my Sunday school days, I read from a commentary written by David Guzik.  He writes, "The unfaithful servants were those who thought that because their Master was so mighty, He didn't need their help.  But the issue is not His need of my help; the issue is my need to help Him and my need to be part of His work."  (You can find these on the BLB App.)  This turned the parable around for me a bit.  Yes, God wants us to use our talents for His glory.  When we do, He gives us more.  But I think it is more than that.  He wants us to use our talents, to apply His Word, to be submissive each day, not only for His glory, but because that is what is best for us.  In doing these things, we allow Him to work in our lives in such a way that He can give us more blessing, more insight, more learning and heart-knowledge.  Then we can use that "more" for Him again, so that He can give us more blessing again, and the cycle goes on and on as He makes us more like Christ.  

Here's a small example.  When my kids were small and the line to check out at the store would be long, I would tell them that we were exercising our patience muscles.  In a way, that is what we are talking about.  The more you consciously apply what God has taught you, like having patience, the stronger you get in that area and the more you can practice that lesson well.  Then you are ready for more lessons.  My kids learned to wait in a long line, although not very well : ), just as we need to learn small things each day.  As we learn, grow, and apply those small lessons, they add up.  But what happens when we don't practice those lessons.  If my kids were going to be impatient and naughty in the line, they would have to suffer the consequences.  If they continued to not learn that lesson, the consequences would be more severe and I certainly wouldn't be teaching them cool things like how to make cookies if they didn't have the patience to wait in line.  They wouldn't be ready for the patience of baking if they didn't have the patience for a simple, short wait.  God gives us more as we are ready for it, so we need to prove ourselves ready by applying what He has taught us and using what we have for His glory.