Achievements

Our status as Sabbath keeping Christians is not based on how much wealth we can accumulate or our status in society, but it is based on our honor of God with our lives. In Matthew 25:14-21, we can read: ¹⁴ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. ¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰ “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

These talents are not what the world thinks, but all of us want to hear the words in verse 21- “Well done My good and faithful servant.”

To me a talent in today’s vernacular means abilities. Are we able to publicly speak, sing, play a musical instrument, or do something else special?

Yet, we think of talents such as public speaking- the one with the powers of oration or convincing others, the one who can speak so well, would make the best minister. But we can do a study about Moses in Exodus 4:10-16 we read: 10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and [a]slow of tongue.”

Yahweh did not intend at first for Aaron to be the spokesman; He intended Moses to speak. Yet, Moses probably stuttered, but Yahweh informed Moses that He made man’s mouth.

Often, we say I can’t speak like that, or I could never do that, but actually, the talents do not lie on the outside but on the inside. Moses was far greater than I in his life, but He made a mistake here. He looked on the outward and the physical rather than looking on the inside for what Yahweh told him to do and accomplish. In Matthew 25:24-30, we can read about what happened to the man with one talent that did not utilize it: ²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So, you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Mankind says we must have certain abilities before we can perform- only the best should do this or that.

But Yahweh told Moses to go and speak when He knew speaking was not a great ability of Moses.

If we are to make the first resurrection, it will not come from our abilities as mankind sees them, but it will depend on our going and doing as God directed us.

Moses argued with Yahweh, and it made Yahweh angry.

Our country was not based on royalty but on achievement. There was never to be a caste system in this country- even our declaration of independence says- “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Some of the greatest feats of mankind were not done by those that society deemed capable.

My father could not read or write, yet he raised a family and ran a business, never asked for help from the government, owned a nice home and a nice shop with equipment for his business when he died.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were bicycle specialist, yet they built a flyable airplane. Now, we can travel great distances in jet planes.
Beethoven, the famous German composer who lived in the mid to late 1700’s and died in 1826, was deaf and had to use letters to communicate. Yet, he wrote symphonies that influences music even today. There are many others, and if you look on line some of the great inventions or feats done by paraplegics, the elderly, and others you will find how people overcame their handicaps to accomplish great things. Great things are done by those who could easily be dismissed in today’s society.

I think God was trying to tell Moses that greatness comes from within- how we obey God and have faith that he will carry us through.

Some time ago, I heard that a young couple should probably not have children- she has not finished her education and on and on.

Yet, what if that is not God’s plan. We can get wait until everything is just right, or we can step out on faith. So often, like Moses, we talk ourselves out of things because we have problems that we think are not surmountable. But God knows no bounds.

The best things we can do is make sure it is God’s will and then go from there. After all, Abraham and Zachariah- the father of John the Baptist- were told they would have children in their old age.

God made mouths, ears, and hands. Yet, we are full of excuses that say why we cannot achieve.

Maybe, we should try to learn more about what God wants and not about what we can do. God can fix it so we can achieve anything within his will- we just need to find His will and obey.

Pastor Nick