The Parable of the Talents <–full story
And so he that had received five talents came
and brought other five talents, saying,
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant:
thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Matthew 25:20-21
A plumb line
That is one of my functions
A plumb line is a tool with a vertical string with a weight on the end
It determines verticality, goes toward the center of gravity
This function I use in the body of Christ, yes,
but it also carries over to other areas in my life
I like fairness
Keeping the balances just,
keeping weights on target,
keeping things straight,
exposing the crooked
It is a part of how God made me
It can be bothersome to others
Most people don’t care a lot about that
Each of us is different
I have come to accept that about myself
We can’t change others
Sometimes it gets in the way
This morning I awoke to a message after I had been a plumb line
It reminded me of my function
I consider it a talent that I must use
I do not seek out opportunities to use it,
but when something comes across my desk, so to speak, I use it,
albeit what I consider carefully
It still can be bothersome to people
I can’t help that
It is a part of me
And the way God made me
I accept it
At times, I feel like if I keep my mouth shut,
I won’t be using my talent or my gift
and might even be guilty of not warning that the sword is coming
So, for me, it is best to speak and to make the crooked straight
Paul was a plumb line
I used to not like Paul
I didn’t want to hear all his correcting
I have learned to embrace it
He speaks the truth to help us
John the Baptist was another example of a plumb line
Ezekiel
Elijah, Jeremiah, most of the prophets in the Old Testament
Of course Solomon, who wrote The Book of Proverbs
We are to speak the truth in love
I try to do that
Like all of us, I am sure I fail at times
My feeling, speaking from the heart of a plumb line,
is that it isn’t love if I don’t speak it when I see it
And not speaking what I know is right, well, that might be offensive to the Lord,
or caring more what man thinks than what God thinks
I encourage you all to use your gifts and talents as the Lord gives
Do not keep silent because they might offend
Be who God created you to be
And let the chips fall where they may
Scriptural References:
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
We ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ:
Ephesians 4:15
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:
for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet,
and the people be not warned; if the sword come,
and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
Ezekiel 33:6