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Christ’s Object Lessons
dust.”
Psalm 103:14
. All that He claims from us we through divine
grace can render.
“Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”
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Luke 12:48
. We shall individually be held responsible for doing one
jot less than we have ability to do. The Lord measures with exactness
every possibility for service. The unused capabilities are as much
brought into account as are those that are improved. For all that
we might become through the right use of our talents God holds us
responsible. We shall be judged according to what we ought to have
done, but did not accomplish because we did not use our powers to
glorify God. Even if we do not lose our souls, we shall realize in
eternity the result of our unused talents. For all the knowledge and
ability that we might have gained and did not, there will be an eternal
loss.
But when we give ourselves wholly to God and in our work follow
His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment.
He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeav-
ors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to co-operate
with One who knows no failure.
We should not talk of our own weakness and inability. This is a
manifest distrust of God, a denial of His word. When we murmur
because of our burdens, or refuse the responsibilities He calls upon
us to bear, we are virtually saying that He is a hard master, that He
requires what He has not given us power to do.
The spirit of the slothful servant we are often fain to call humility.
But true humility is widely different. To be clothed with humility does
not mean that we are to be dwarfs in intellect, deficient in aspiration,
and cowardly in our lives, shunning burdens lest we fail to carry them
successfully. Real humility fulfills God’s purposes by depending upon
His strength.
God works by whom He will. He sometimes selects the humblest
instrument to do the greatest work, for His power is revealed through
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the weakness of men. We have our standard, and by it we pronounce
one thing great and another small; but God does not estimate according
to our rule. We are not to suppose that what is great to us must be
great to God, or that what is small to us must be small to Him. It does
not rest with us to pass judgment on our talents or to choose our work.
We are to take up the burdens that God appoints, bearing them for