THROUGH REPETITION
To my fellow Christians, how does God speak to you? Because there are a lot of ways in which He gets His message across that don't necessarily involve a deep thunderous voice.
God communicates through:
Intuition, like internal peace that fills your spirit seemingly out of nowhere about a person or situation —that's Him
Those distinct dreams you can't get out of your head the next morning —that's Him
The circumstantial opening and closing of doors —that's Him
Advice/words of wisdom coming at the ABSOLUTE right time from loved ones or even random strangers —THAT'S HIM
If you're like me in the physical sense, you'll need the point to be extremely blatant to receive it. You can't just drop hints and expect me to understand, at least not without another hint for the hint and maybe a map with a legend drawn. Otherwise it all goes over my head.
So how does God speak in these ominous ways to little ole me who never seems to get the clue? Through sign repetition. Hit me over the head with it a few times and everything becomes ever clear.
I actually wanted to share with y'all my latest lesson. It involves Matthew 25:14-30 the "Parable of the Talents"
I first stumbled upon this story one night after work. I was reading an article that just so happened to reference this example right from the bible. Ask me what that article was about I couldn't tell you. Whether or not it was Christian related and why this parable was used, I have no idea. I honestly thought nothing of it, didn't remember much and moved on.
Fast forward to the following Sunday, I was back at home with my parents and while our local church usually celebrates mass online for us to watch, my mom requested we streamed one from Lagos this week. A small change to our routine with the final gospel reading being Matthew 25:14-30.
I wasn't prepared for how the priest decided to interpret its overall message for his own intensely motivating homily. Something I don't think I was going to get elsewhere.
Before I move into his words, my final run into this parable was during a friendly discussion over the phone. You know through advice and words of wisdom from loved ones coming at precisely the perfect moment? We were chatting and lo and behold this same parable got brought up.
At that point I wanted to cry. Or scream. "I hear you!!!!! I don't know Lord exactly what you want me to do with such information at this very moment, but okay I get it!!!"
I believed wholeheartedly I was being communicated with...
Overview
As best as I could sum things up, while on earth, Jesus Christ used parables to explain the Kingdom of God to the people.
Of those parables was this one about a "master" who goes away for some time and hands over "his property" of talents to his servants. He dashes five, two, and one talent respectively and almost right away the first two servants take their talents and go double their original amounts. The third servant, however, just buries the talent given in the ground. When the master returns he commends the first two for being "good" and "trustworthy" and rewards them accordingly. The third servant admits his inactivity then turns it into an accusation towards the character of the master: one who is harsh and reaps where he does not sow. This angers the master and it all ends with judgment of the servant's "worthlessness" and also banishment.
Talents, in this sense, have to do with money but on a much larger scale of responsible waiting and trustful obedience let's make it about opportunities. Let's make it about how we live our lives.
During that Sunday Lagos mass, Genesis was mentioned to parallel being fruitful and multiplying with the servants multiplying their talents. A lot of our responsibility to God is to do the work man/woman was initially placed to do and share His word while doing it.
We are to work, using our gifts/talents to glorify God, to serve the common good, and further God’s kingdom. And upon Christ's impending return, we will all be called into account regarding our faithfulness with what was given. All of us. Not just the ones everyone is so focused on saving. All of us are to give an account. The second coming is not only about Jesus, and not about the nonbelievers we tried to convert in time, it's about us as well.
As Christians we can't expect special treatment by name or salvation alone. We need to pound the pavement and produce obediently. The unfaithful servant didn’t so much waste the master’s time or money he wasted an opportunity. As a result, he was judged as wicked and lazy.
Now it was mentioned each servant was allotted a different amount of money “Each according to his ability.” Sure we can take a day to talk unfairness, inequality and the importance of equal opportunity. But stepping backwards we know from societal experience that so much can come from so little and so little can also come from a lot. The servant who doubled two talents was treated just the same as the one who doubled five. It was the effort rather than the exact amounts that were graded.
The "crappy hand" you were dealt, what do you plan to do with it? It's only God who sees the heart of man when given an opportunity to prove himself. And the courage to produce in the face of an unknown future is still rewarded abundantly as opposed to doing the least with nothing. That servant was punished harshly.
I believe God is telling me to be fruitful. With whatever I have been given I should multiply and make great things. Even if I don't believe I'm where I want to be in life and ideas of leaps of faith scare me to move forward I need to move. Time is wasting and I need to quit complaining. If you're in my friend group and you already know, you know 😏.
When everything is said and done the Lord will return, what on earth will I tell Him I've been doing. Especially in these last few months.
Again 2020 continues to remind us nothing is promised. Old age isn't promised. I have a lot planned for a later time and that later time may not arrive. I keep saying when I find my footing, when I settle down, I'll finally do this that and the other. Maybe my call is to do it all on rocky ground now. I really need to stop with the excuses. I need to make some swift schedule and perspective changes.