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How Much Is It Worth?

By Bobbie Jean Merck

   On April 17, 2004 the word of the Lord came unto me saying, “What is the value of God’s gift and anointing that He has given and placed within you?  How much is it worth?”

   I knew that God was speaking to me to re-evaluate His call, gift, and anointing.  He was also speaking to all of us.  I began to meditate upon that with great soberness and sincerity of heart.  I began to judge myself.  In conclusion, I realized I valued His call, gift, and anointing beyond anything I had imagined before.  A new decision and a new commitment was made to God, and to the call, gift, and anointing.  The results and fruit are phenomenal!

   Of course my thoughts went immediately to Matthew 25.  Ben Campbell Johnson’s Matthew and Mark A Relational Paraphrase says it exactly and powerfully.  The employer said to the one to whom he had invested the five talents, “… ‘You have done a good job.  You are a prudent and faithful employee.  Because you have managed a small investment well, I will entrust to you greater and greater responsibility.  Share my sense of fulfillment with me’” (Matthew 25:21).

   To the one who had received the two talents, the employer said, “… ‘You have done a good job and you are truly a capable employee.  Since you have been diligent with a small sum, I will entrust to you the management of greater resources.  Share with me the fulfillment which I have in your behavior’” (Matthew 25:23).

   “Finally, he came to the person who had only $1,000.  This person said, ‘Sir, you are a hard investor to compete with.  I know you can get a return when you don’t even make an investment, and you can harvest a crop without cultivating it properly.  Knowing how astute you are, I was anxious about my own ability.  So I took the $1,000, and put it in a safe-deposit box.  Here’s your original $1,000.’ 

 “The employer said, ‘You are a frightened, irresponsible employee.  You know that I am a sharp businessman, making wise investments and harvesting large crops, and I have given you a very clear model.  You should therefore have invested the money which I gave you so that, upon my return, I would have the original investment plus the increase.’ 

  “He then turned to an officer and said, ‘Take the $1,000 this man has and give it to the man who had $10,000.  Every person who manages his assets wisely will be given additional assets so that he may have an abundance.  But the person who does not manage his assets wisely will lose those he has.  Dismiss this stupid employee and let him wander in confusion and meaningless suffering as the consequence of his careless behavior.’”

     Matthew 25:24-30 Matthew and Mark A Relational Paraphrase

   The ones who respect and use their talents wisely are called prudent and faithful.  They continue to receive greater and greater responsibility because they have proven themselves by doing a good job in managing the little with which they have been entrusted.  They are invited to share the master’s joy and fulfillment.

   Also the ones who are given two talents are told they have done a good job by investing what they have.  They are called capable employees who are diligent.  Therefore they are given the management of greater resources.  The employer receives joy and fulfillment in their behavior and invites each of the faithful employees to share this joy and fulfillment with him.  This reveals the truth that using our call, gifts, and anointing wisely draws and puts us into a closer and intimate relationship with our Lord.  It also reveals they were not jealous, intimidated, or threatened by those who had more.

   Let’s notice the outstanding facts about the one who had been given one talent.  First of all, the number of talents are not the issue!  What one does with what one has been given is the issue.  The one who did nothing:

1.      Did not accept personal responsibility

2.      Defended himself

3.      Blamed his employer and called him a hard man who had improper practices

      but prospered anyway

4.      Was fearful, worried, and anxious about his own ability, so he did nothing with his gift

5.      Was a frightened, irresponsible employee because he didn’t use what he had

6.      Knew his employer was a sharp businessman and gave him a very clear model to do likewise

7.      Should have invested and given to his employer upon his return the original gift plus

      increase (note that every original talent plus the increase from his investment goes back

      to the  employer and not to the employee)

8.      What he did have was taken away

9.      His gift (talent) is given to the one who manages his assets wisely so this one

      can have abundance (thus showing Satan is not always the thief, but lack of proper

      use of what has been given to one will cause one to lose what he has)

10.  Is called stupid

11.  Is left to wander in confusion and meaningless suffering because of his careless behavior.

   Saints, I don’t know how God can put it any clearer than this.  The ones with five and two talents are good servants who can be trusted.  The master told all three servants “to take care of his things while he was gone” (Matthew25:14 The Everyday Bible).  Two heard and obeyed, one listened but did not obey.  The master called him bad and lazy (Matthew 25:26 The Everyday Bible).  Notice again, what the employer had given them did not become their possession. 

   God is awakening us today to keener alertness and guarding our lives, calls, gifts, and anointings as never before.  Why?  The answer is Matthew 24:44.  “In similar fashion, you must be ready at every hour of the day or night, for at the very moment that you think Christ is not coming, he will appear.”

   I do not want “unfaithful” stamped on me.  Therefore, I am determined to hear, to obey, and to be faithful.  We cannot be faithful and obey until we hear.

   The word “hear” means that you have heard, and because you have heard you clearly understand, and you obey (do) what you have heard. One has not heard until one does what one hears.  One can listen and not hear.

   We must train our ears to hear just as we train our eyes to see.  My son Dan and I will be riding to or from the Atlanta airport and suddenly he will excitedly say, “Look at those deer!”  My inevitable response is (as I look as hard as I can), “Where, Dan?”  “Right over there!  Don’t you see them?” he responds.  No, I did not, and I have not seen them!  My eyes are not trained to see deer.

So incline thou thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding….

  Proverbs 2:2

   The word “incline” means to prick up the ear, i.e., sharpening the ears like an alert animal; to listen, give heed, pay attention; attend to something (do it); make attentive.  The New International Version calls it “turning your ear to wisdom.”  We have to learn and train ourselves to hear, submit, surrender, receive, and obey.

   We cannot receive (hear) from anyone or anything we do not seek and respect.  But in the case and cause of God, if we give Him willingness, He gives us power.  The un-surrendered cannot receive.  They do not give; therefore, they cannot receive.  “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17).  We can only command (or ask for) the forces of God when we are free in ourselves to obey them.

   When Jesus healed the man who could not speak, He did not touch and heal his tongue first.  He touched and healed his ears first.  He could not receive with his ears, therefore he could not give with his tongue.  Hearing was the root and basis of his trouble.  If you don’t hear, you can’t give.

   Think on these things.  “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).  When God hears, and we know He hears, God does what we ask.  Therefore, sharpening our ears to hear will strengthen and release our faith in God to receive from God.

   The opposite extreme example of “not hearing even though God speaks” is found in First Samuel 15:22-23. “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 

   Samuel and Saul knew that Saul had not heard (though he had listened) because he did not obey God’s voice.  Samuel calls this rejection of the Lord.

   I have a new appreciation for hearing God and obeying God, and especially as the Holy Spirit summarizes this importance in Revelation 2 & 3!  I am turning my ear to hear!

   Faithfulness is a characteristic and judge of how much we value our call, gift, and anointing.  “Let love and faithfulness never leave you….  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man” (Proverb 3:3,4 New International Version).  Saints, this word faithfulness is too great to try to say a little about it.  I will have to do this another time. 

   Let us know our call, gift, and anointing; let us know how much they are worth to us.  It will help us to set boundaries and priorities, and to focus!  It will help us to make right decisions and choices.  It will help us go in the right direction and do what we need to do:

FOR THE CAUSE! 

Amen.