Discipleship
How to Make the Most of Your Life (Part Two)
Leaders who invest their lives have ministries that outlast them. I hope that’s you.
In last week’s article, I shared four principles of investing your life in a way that outlasts you, according to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:
- The Principle of Ownership: Everything we have belongs to God and has been entrusted to us to bring him glory.
- The Principle of Allocation: God gives each of us unique gifts.
- The Principle of Accountability: God expects us to make the most of the abilities, talents, opportunities, and resources he has given us.
- The Principle of Utilization: When God gives us talents, he expects us to use them.
This week, I’d like to share with you three more:
The Principle of Motivation
Satan loves to use fear to prevent us from using our talents. You see this in the response of the lazy servant in Matthew 25:25. When the master confronted him with his poor stewardship, he said: “I was afraid.” Because he was afraid, the servant played it safe.
Three kinds of fear keep us from being effective in ministry.
- Self-doubt—You’re afraid of failing.
- Self-pity—You’re afraid you have failed too many times in the past to ever succeed.
- Self-consciousness—You’re afraid of what other people will think of you.
Never let fear keep you from using the talents God has given you. When you’re afraid, you’ll give excuses instead of utilizing your talents.
The Principle of Application
If you don’t use your talent, you’ll lose it. In Matthew 25:28, the master takes the talent away from the lazy servant and gives it to the servant with 10 talents. At first, this doesn’t seem fair. It seems as if the rich just get richer and the talented get more talent.
But God is sharing an important truth. He may take away anything you don’t invest for him. The opposite is also true. Whatever you would like to have more of from the Lord, start giving what you have to him.
The more you use what God has given you, the more it will grow. The less you use it, the more you’ll lose it.
The Principle of Compensation
God will reward you for using wisely what he gives you. In the Parable of the Talents, we see three different ways we’re rewarded for investing what he has given:
- Affirmation — “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
- Promotion — “You’ve been faithful in a few things, I’ll put you in charge of many things.”
- Celebration — “Come and share your master’s happiness.”
Not only can you use these principles to help your life and ministry, but to help your congregation understand how to invest their lives.
The best use of your life is to invest it in something that will outlast you.