Encouragement

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Do You Measure Up?
© 2007

by

Stephen A. Peterson


As the tribe’s Medicine Man grew old, he was overheard to express his concerns about his judgment before God. “You are a fair, loving and compassionate man,” a tribal member told him at a pow-wow,” the most honest and forgiving person that I have ever met anywhere in Indian country. You are as competent and as wise as Solomon. Why should you of all people be fearful of Almighty God’s judgment?”

“When I die and face God’s judgment,” the Medicine Man responded, “I will not be asked, ‘Why weren’t you the Solomon of your time?’ but rather ‘Why were you not the Indian Pete of Seminole, Oklahoma? Were you forgiving, compassionate, and merciful to your brothers and sisters? Were you faithful to My Word? Did you seek Me through My Word and through prayer? Or were you in and of the world?”

When it come time to take an account of your earthly journey, to consider and to total the pluses and minuses, the only standard that counts is how well we measured up to our own potential. Christ’s parable of the talents in Matthew’s Gospel (25: 14-30) gives us a clue to Jesus’ yardstick. Those who take their God given talents and bury them in hopes of protecting them from the possibilities of being lost are fools. Christ commands His followers to stand up and actively invest His gifts each person was granted in service and in giving to others of our time, talent and treasure without restraint and with complaining about what we have given. By any measure, Christianity, it would seem, has fallen to letting “Someone Else” do the work of Christianity. It is reported that 8 to 10 people living in the United States today report being Christian. Yet there are so few people willing to use their talents for His Kingdom. It seems they are fearful of losing their talents. The result is many will not know Christ and His World.

The bottom line is that each Christian is commanded to fearlessly go out into the world, realize and use their God given talent or talents to advance Christianity for His glory and not for personal glory. If we do, after we die and go before Christ to be judged, the bottom line will report our lives profitable on all counts.

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