Don't waste it

“I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability” 2 Corinthians 8:3 (HCSB)Some time ago I read that in America 40% of all food ends up being wasted, and that is not counting all the food we eat but really shouldn’t.We are finding ourselves in the midst of a water crisis, our community could run out of water within a couple of months, so the watchword is, “Don’t waste the water!”We started consolidating our trips to town when gasoline went above $4.00 a gallon. We couldn’t afford to just waste gas.I don’t want to go on and on about waste, although I could add wasted time, wasted opportunities, and wasting our abilities.Paul thought the Macedonian believers were too poor to take part in the hunger relief project he was promoting. Obviously they didn’t think so, which is why he wrote to the Corinthian believers what you read at the top of this pastor’s note. The poor Macedonians implored, pleaded, begged (what irony) to let them participate, and then they stretched themselves “beyond their ability.” The Corinthians were the opposite, they had plenty of ability, but somehow they had to be motivated to not waste their ability and resources.You can’t waste what you don’t have, but each one of us has time, opportunities, resources, and abilities. All four of them are God-given, what we do with them says a lot about us, our priorities, our hearts. In Matthew 25 Jesus speaks about the judgment of God and in doing so tells what is known as the parable of the talents (talents were large sums of money). In the parable a wealthy master divides talents in unequal proportions to three of his servants, the criteria being “to each according to his ability.” After the talents are distributed the master leaves for a time, when he returns he expects each person to give an account. The first two doubled what had been entrusted to them; the third didn’t do anything with his. All three had time, opportunity, resources, and ability. The questions is whether or not we are using all four in way that pleases God, that advances his interests? Do we have the heart and vision to see how our resources and abilities can make a difference? Do we jump to it, or do we have to be prodded, or do we set aside any notion of accountability before God?We can get it right, we just can’t be wasters. The ultimate approval of how we went about life, what we did with our time, opportunities, resources, and abilities, will be when God says, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23).To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans