Life is dangerous, from the second we are born until the moment we leave this world, but we can’t let fear rule our lives, or it won’t be a life worth living.”
–C. J. Petit (The Gunsmith)
“Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”
–2 John 8 (NKJV)
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The preacher asked last Sunday if anyone knew where the richest place on earth was. He named a few places that may have been in the minds of some then proceeded to say that the richest place on earth is the graveyard. Ponder that–the graveyard. How many unfulfilled dreams lie beneath the sod? How many minds left untapped? How many talents lie buried beneath the sod, never put to use? Oh, think of the many things that are buried, never put to use, and now useless.
The key to his message was the concept of POTENTIAL. Everyone has some kind of potential, but so many just go through life never putting their potential into action, or to the wrong action. One of the things that drove me “crazy” as a teacher was the many, many kids who decided that their best was mediocrity. Those kids who had so much potential and were satisfied with just getting by. Sometimes the “spirit of slap” would come upon me and I would have to control my impulses. Waste, just like so many of the lives that are dead and gone never using the potential that was within them.
The preacher went on to bring a discourse on Matthew 25:14-30, one of the most sober parables of Jesus. There are, of course, two servants who were given talents and doubled what they had. They were profitable servants. They used what they had been given. But there is that one, that one that would eventually be cast out because he had been given a talent, but he had failed to use it. In verse 25, he tells his excuse: “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.”
He was afraid! Fear caused him not to act on his potential. Fear made him not put to use the potential that had been given to him. One of the greatest deceptions used by the devil is fear. Man doesn’t use his potential because he is afraid of failure. He doesn’t use it because he won’t take the time to develop it–he is mediocre. Some, today, are using fear for not following the Word of God. People are not going to church because of fear. How then are they to grow in discipleship? How are they to pray and help other believers and allow believers to pray and help them? There are some so fearful that they have cloistered themselves in their houses, fearing to venture out and be salt and light unto the world. They have hid their talent, their light, under a bushel.
One has to question if they are truly believers for they are acting completely contrary to that very word–believer. Let me give you a few words from the apostle John as he writes his epistle.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
–1 John 4:18 (NKJV)
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.”
–1 John 5:4 (NKJV)
If you are hiding your life because of a virus–shame on you. If you are living in fear–shame on you. It is time for you to trust in Christ. Do not hide your potential–do not go to the grave with it and allow it to be buried with you. Jesus finishes the parable with a somber note. The Master has the one talent taken from the man, the one that should have been put to use and tells his other servants, “Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:30, NKJV)
The servant had been given potential and he failed to use it. Now…now it is too late. Too late! What could have been has been taken away, and remember that he was one of the Master’s servants. He hid himself, fear gripped him, and now he is in darkness. Oh ye of little faith–use your potential.