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The Hidden Power Within
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When you finish reading this, you will be faced with an extremely important and potentially life changing choice. You will choose to be like one of two people that I'm going to tell you about right now.
Person #1
An east coaster named Hetty Green. A more accurate name for her would have actually been Hetty Greenbacks - because she was all about the Benjamins. So many, in fact, that when she died her net worth was over $100 million dollars. That might not sound like that much at face value today, but Hetty passed away in 1916, which by today's standards would make her a multi-billionaire. Some things you need to know about the richest woman in the world at the time:
Hetty regularly ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it.
Her son had his leg amputated because she took so long to get him adequate care...why? Because she was looking for a free clinic!
She owned one dress at a time and only changed underclothes when they wore out (eewwwww!)
Hetty died of a stroke during an argument over milk. Her position was that skim was the best because it was the cheapest.
At her disposal was incredible wealth, but she lived like she was incredibly poor. She never took advantage of all the amazing things she could have done with her riches.
Person #2
A west coaster named Bob. He lived on the opposite side of the country from Hetty in the opposite financial situation from her as well. He was as poor and penniless as a pauper until he received some important news. Apparently he was the only living relative of a filthy rich British royalty person.
So what did Bob choose to do? The same thing you or I would do...get off the couch and go for it! He went to an expensive clothing store, bought an expensive suit, then bought an expensive ticket to England where he claimed his inheritance and - as far as I know - lived happily ever after.
Person #3
Person #3 is actually you - and you will decide to be like person #1 or person #2...(OK, OK - I'll lay off the Dr. Seuss imitation). You are the heir to an astounding fortune - not made of cash, but of something worth infinitely more: spiritual gifts. Money can be used to build people's temporary and little earthly kingdoms, but using your spiritual gifts can be used to build God's eternal and universal Kingdom.
This is where the choice comes in. You can be a Hetty Green and keep your amazing spiritual gifts and talents locked away, or you can be like British boy Bob...get off the couch - go for it - and live happily ever after! To me, the choice seems pretty obvious, because what you decide to do or not do will have a great impact on how you spend eternity.
Notice I said "how" you spend eternity, not "where", because this isn't about your heavenly reservation...it's about your heavenly reward (or lack thereof). Don't for a minute think that there won't be degrees of rewards in the afterlife (see Matthew 19:30), because that's the kind of thinking that breeds lazy Christians - and we've got plenty of them already.
But perhaps the choice isn't that obvious, or maybe you're just not motivated to do the fun (and hard) work of learning about spiritual gifts, discovering yours, and finding a place in your youth group and/or church to use them. Don't worry, you're not alone. There were people in Jesus' day that had the same attitude, so Jesus told them this story:
"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last--dividing it in proportion to their abilities--and then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.
"After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, `Sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master was full of praise. `Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'
"Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold, with the report, `Sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master said, `Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'
"Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, `Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.'
"But the master replied, `You wicked and lazy servant! You think I'm a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 25:14-30)
Yikes! I'm not entirely sure what gnashing of teeth is all about, but I understand weeping - as in great sorrow for those who buried their spiritual gifts who one day have to give an account to Jesus' face for how they used them - or didn't use them.
So use them - because I guarantee living happily ever in heaven starts with looking into Christ's face and hearing Him say:
`Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'
Head: What you need to know about this truth
Every Christian has been given a spiritual gift (unique ability/talent to help build God's Kingdom) which should be discovered and used. If we neglect this area of our lives, we will lose heavenly rewards.
Heart: What you need to feel about this truth
So many Christians live their lives like they were put here to figure out things to do with their time. This is too bad, because God put us here to advance His Kingdom - and one of the main ways we do that is through our spiritual gifts. Knowing this, you should feel motivated to discover and use yours, and be excited about how God will use you to make an eternal difference in the world around you!
Hands: What you need to do about this truth
Carefully read through the list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, then carefully think through what gift or gifts you think the Holy Spirit has given to you. Be sure and get together with your youth leader and discuss your conclusions, and ask him/her to help you "plug in" and get going! There are also some spiritual gift "inventories" on-line, but be warned - some are better than others, so ask your youth leader about that as well.
