I was driving once and saw this aged truck in the distance sitting in someone’s yard. As I got closer you could see spray painted across the truck, “NOT FOR SALE.” Apparently many people had stopped and asked about the truck. This is understandable because it was a classic and could have been restored into something beautiful.
This is not the only time that I’ve seen something that was rotting into the ground that someone refused to part with, even though they weren’t going to do anything with it. Maybe they had it for years and got good use out of it. Maybe it had been in their family for a long time, but now it just wastes away. It may be a car, a shed, a tool, or something else valuable. It’s just sitting there, not getting used, grass growing up around it. It’s something that could be utilized, maybe even something that you could utilize. It may be on a piece of property that you can tell nobody’s been at in years. Nobody’s getting anything out of it, and it just makes me a little mad. Because you can look at it and tell they’re not gonna get rid of it, but they’re not going to use it.
I wonder how many times God looks at us and goes I could use them, I could utilize them, but we’re just sitting there letting grass grow around us, not getting used. If God moves on us to use the gift, we draw back and are like “no I know I’m not using it, but I don’t want anybody else to use it either.” We just sit on it.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells the parable of the talents. The one talent man refused to do anything with his talent. He says that he hid the talent in the earth. You ever think about that Adam was formed from the dust of the earth? We came from the earth and to the earth we will return. So it could be said that this man has hidden his talent inside himself.
This reminds me of something Jeremiah said. If I say, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name,” then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t contain it (Jeremiah 20:9 NHEB). Understand that the reason it was becoming a fire burning within him is that he was trying to hold it in. We should not try to hold inside ourselves the Word of God not to be shared. If we do then it should become a fire burning within us.
It could be a ministry that was ours. Maybe we made full proof of our ministry and did all the right things. We may have ran the race that was set before us, but now it’s time to pass the baton. It may be time to commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2 KJV). We are in a race, but it’s a relay race. In a relay race, if a runner holds the baton for too long, the team will be disqualified. You can hurt the ministry in large by trying to hold onto the baton too long.
Let us not be guilty of holding onto something too long. If we can still use it then use it. If our time of using it has passed then pass it on. Let’s help each other finish the race.
Matthew 5:14-16 KJV 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
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