The last week and a half Dawn and I have watched a lot of the Olympic Games in Beijing. My annoyance was that so much was focused on the Americans and the winners. What I like watching are the people who finished third and are elated, or simply advance a round and act like world champions. I love the stories like the South African swimmer who lost a leg in an accident six years ago, but still was there competing.
I want to see people getting the most out of their ability. It would be easy to compare themselves to others and be disappointed because they’re not as fast as Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. Only one can be the world record holder. When we start comparing ourselves to others we either become prideful, depressed, or even covetous… none of which are good.
In Matthew 25 Jesus shares a parable about a master giving talents (an amount of money this case) to three different servants to take care of while he is away. The one the master gets upset with is the one who buries his talent and does nothing with it. I wonder if he did nothing with it because he compared his talents to the other three and felt sorry for himself instead of being grateful for the tremendous gift he was given.
We have all been given gifts to use for our Master. What are you going to do with yours? Are you going to fall into the trap of comparing your gifts and talents with others? Or are you going to use them to build up the kingdom of God? The choice is yours, the gift has already been given to you.
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