Every Christian has a talent. The Holy Spirit divides to every believer a portion of the wisdom and power of the ascended Christ.

Perhaps our talent is expressed in a tremendous, recognized gift to the Body such as the apostle or the prophet. Or it may be true that we are the custodian of the church building.

The apostle and the custodian may vary widely in importance in the sight of people. But they do not vary widely in importance in the sight of God. A custodian who does a job in utter faithfulness before the Lord is highly esteemed in the Kingdom of God. He will be issued greater responsibility.

The apostle may be revealing the Scriptures with great power. The prophet may be lifting the saints into the glory of the Kingdom Age. But if the toilet begins to leak and floods the restroom the worshipers are quickly brought back down to the present world.

It is not unusual for the highly gifted individual, the one with ten talents, to go about his or her ministry conscientiously. The believer with the one talent, thinking he is of little importance in the kingdom, may become occupied with his job or family and pay little attention to his one task.

Such difference in diligence can be seen in the churches. The Pastor becomes the "chief cook and bottle washer" until he is "burned out." The members of the assembling who should be performing many of the chores that are killing the Pastor are busy with their home, their vacation schedule and their retirement program.

The one-talented individual who buried his talent suffered in four major ways. First, he was removed from fellowship with his angry Lord. Second, his talent was given to a more industrious person. Third, he lost his crown of rulership. Fourth, he was cast into the outer darkness.

We humans would reserve such harsh punishment for the murderer, the rapist, the thief. We do not view the timid, negligent believer as a candidate for total loss of inheritance.

The Kingdom of God is at hand and will be given to those who esteem it highly enough to turn away from the world and seek it with a whole heart. The fearful, the cowardly, the negligent, the spiritually lazy, may be acceptable to us; but to God who is busily bringing forth a new world of righteousness they are a complete frustration. They are neither hot nor cold.

Let us be up and about our Father's business. We must be faithful with our few things if we are to be the rulers over many. There are great rewards for serving the Lord!

What do we do about this? We attend diligently to the task set before us. Meanwhile, we ask the Lord for an increased area of service. Ask your Pastor and elders where they think you fit in the work of the ministry.

Covet earnestly the best gifts!