USE YOUR TALENTS by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · December 18, 1879

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 54, No. 25

USE YOUR TALENTS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: “Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11.

For what and by whom were we placed here? What is our duty? and what account shall we have to render for the use we make of our time and talents? The word of the Lord is very plain upon this point. Thus it says: “Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11. We all readily admit that the Lord has created everything. He made the earth upon which we walk, the air we breathe, the sun which gives us light, and the water that we drink. Everything around us was made by the Lord. He also made us, and gave us our hearts, our minds, our hands, and all that we have.

Now, for what did he make us? The text is very plain: “Thou hast created all things for thy pleasure.” Then the Lord has placed us here expressly to please him, to work out his purposes. This was the object of our creation, and if there is one of us who has lived twenty, thirty, or forty years, and has not honored and served his Creator, he has just so far failed to meet this object. The Lord gives us a short lease of life, perhaps fifty years, in which he tries us to see what we will do with the time, talents, and opportunities he has intrusted to us. If we use them all for self, and forget God, then doubtless our life is marked as a failure in the books of Heaven, and in the Judgment we shall not be intrusted with eternal life, but shall be destroyed with the wicked.

The great apostle says: “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

This is a solemn statement,—“Ye are not your own.” It is natural for us to say, “I will do what I please; I am my own. I will eat what I like; I will go where I choose.” But no; we have no right thus to do. We are not our own; we are the Lord’s. It does not make any difference whether we are professors of religion or not, our duty is the same. God will hold us accountable just the same. All that we have, then, is the Lord’s. Every moment of time is his, all the powers of our being are his, and if they are not consecrated to him and used in his service, we are robbing God and failing to meet the object of our creation.

In Matt. 25:14, the Lord gives a forcible illustration of this truth. He says: “For the kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” Verses 14, 15. Then he adds: “Occupy till I come.” By-and-by the master returned, and, calling together those servants, required of them an account of their stewardship. This parable is given to forewarn us that God will reckon with us for every talent we have, and for the use we make of it. It is well that we consider this subject now; for in the day of Judgment we shall certainly wake up to the awful fact that every day we are making an account which will have to be settled. Let us heed this solemn truth now, and make a record which we shall dare to meet.

I call the reader’s attention to the fact that it is not simply overt acts of sin which are laid up against us, but neglect of duty is also thus recorded. We sometimes seem to think that all the sins we have to repent of are such as stealing, lying, adultery, and the like, and that if we keep clear of these, or repent after having committed them, we have nothing further to do. But the Lord teaches very differently. He especially declares that a neglect to improve to his glory the opportunities for doing good which he has placed within our reach will be held against us as sin. Thus, in the parable of the talents it is said that the person who had received one talent went and hid it in the earth. When his lord came, this man brought his talent, and gave it to him. It was all there, not any of it had been squandered or lost; but his lord said to him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” Verse 26.

This servant evidently thought he should not be condemned, because he had done nothing wrong; but his lord reasoned differently. What was the matter? He had not spent the money intrusted to him for drink, for carousing, for tobacco, for jewelry, for any foolish thing; but still the master said, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” He was told that he ought to have traded, bought and sold with this money, and doubled it, that his master might have had his own with interest. He says, therefore, “Take from him the one talent he has, and give it to him who has used his talent, and cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.” The one trouble with this servant was that he had simply done nothing. He was lazy, and so had not used his talent.

So we see from this that in the Judgment the Lord will reckon with each one of us, not simply for what we have done, but also for what we might have done, and did not do. For instance, perhaps he has given you physical strength, sound health of body. Now the question is, What have you done with this strength? Have you used it to glorify God and benefit your fellow-men? or have you used it selfishly, merely for your own pleasure and profit? Perhaps you have used it in attending parties of pleasure, or simply in hard work for yourselves. Here is the Sabbath-school; do you attend that? Here are the prayer-meetings to be sustained; do you attend them? Here is the cause needing money; do you raise means for this object? Here is the missionary work; have you helped to forward that? These are worthy objects for which to spend your strength.

Other men have not been blessed with the health and strength that you have had. This talent has not been intrusted to them. I see men who are lame. They have a good excuse for not going around. I see persons who are weakly and always sick,—persons who are confined to their beds year after year. They have not had the strength that you have. God will not require as much of them as of you in this respect. When the Judgment comes, your strength will be laid in the balance on the one hand, and on the other all your opportunities to use it for the glory of God, and they will be balanced, one against the other,—so much good, excellent strength, so many things that ought to have been done with it. “Weighed in the balance, and found wanting,” will be the record of many.

But is it sin simply to omit doing what we might do? Yes, indeed; for the Lord positively says so. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. This is very plain. If a man knows any good that he ought to do, and neglects to do it, to him it is sin. Let me illustrate this. I stand by a river. A little child has accidentally fallen in, and is drowning. I can easily swim in and save him. I could even walk out and rescue him; but I say, “I do not want to wet my clothes; it is not my child; and I did not put him in, and I am not going to put myself to any trouble to get him out.” I stand by and see him die, when I might easily save him. Would not the parents of that child hold me guilty of his death? Would not the community abhor me as a murderer? Would not my own conscience hold me guilty? Certainly; for I had it in my power to save him, and would not. Again, I see a house on fire, and refuse to lift a finger to put it out, or to rescue the inmates. It is true I have done nothing, and yet every one would consider me guilty for such neglect.

We shall be held responsible in the Judgment for the opportunities we have had to save souls, to glorify God, and to advance his kingdom, which we have never used. Children are committed to your care. You have the opportunity, as no others have, of teaching, of training, of molding these children, so that they will believe in God, love his word, consecrate their lives to him, and be saved in his kingdom. Day after day, week after week, year after year, they are constantly by your side, listening to your words, catching your spirit, following your example. How have you used this great influence over these young, expanding souls? Have you watched your opportunity to sow the seeds of right principles and religious truth? Have you studied to say a word to them now and then about the Lord, and their souls, and the truth? Have you taken time and pains to instruct them in the ways of the Lord? Or have you neglected all these duties and used all your strength in providing food and raiment? Have you been cross and irritable? Have you felt that you had no time to care for their moral and spiritual needs? Have you set them an example of worrying over every trivial matter? Have they come up untrained in the things of God?

In the day of Judgment, how will you meet this account? Had you been as diligent, as earnest, as active, as you might have been, perhaps precious souls now lost forever might have been saved. It is true that you have not taught them iniquity, you have not advised them to go to perdition, but you have neglected a thousand opportunities to warn and instruct them. “Weighed in the balance, and found wanting,” will be the record of many a slothful parent.

In the parable of the barren fig-tree, the same thought is brought out: “And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon; and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.” Mark 11:13. What was the matter with the fig-tree? Simply this: It had done nothing, borne no fruit. The Lord did not charge it with bearing poisonous fruit, with producing thorns or briars. It had not poisoned the atmosphere; it had done no harm. Why did the Lord curse this unfruitful tree? It was to impress upon his disciples the very lesson we are trying to enforce; namely, that a failure to accomplish something is a sin in the sight of God. The barren fig-tree stands as a warning to every man who fails to bear fruit to the glory of God.

Let us apply this. Dear reader, you have eye-sight. The Lord gave it to you to use to his glory and for the benefit of humanity. While you have had this blessing, some are blind from their childhood. Have you used this inestimable gift in studying the word of God, in learning his law, and in attending on the means of grace he has provided? What use have you made of this talent the Lord has given you?

You have the power of speech, while some are deprived of it. Have you used this talent to glorify the God who gave it to you, to pray to him, to praise his name? Have you used it to interest your children, to point out to sinners the way of life? Perhaps you have been using this gift thirty years or fifty years. How much have you talked in that time! You have talked about self, your clothing, your food, your house, your trials. You have talked a great deal about sinful things, about foolish things, about unimportant things; but how much have you talked about heavenly things, your God, your Saviour, the world to come? How much have you talked to those under your influence and with whom you associate to remind them of the Judgment, of the claims of God upon them?

Our text says that the Lord made us for his pleasure, and for his glory. How will it be in the Judgment? The Lord will say: “I gave to that man a ready speech. For forty years I loaned it to him. We will put that in the balance, and on the other side, the prayer-meetings, the Sabbath-school, the missionary work, the training of children—oh, a thousand opportunities for using this gift in my service. But he has forgotten me, has been ashamed to talk of me. He has used this gift for something else.” “Weighed in the balance, and found wanting.” Be careful. The word of God assures us that this will certainly be the case.

In the parable of the sower it is said that some seed fell among thorns. Let us see what that means: “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” Luke 8:14. The seed that sprung up among thorns illustrates those who are choked with the cares and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. It is not said that this seed bore evil fruit, that it injured anybody. It simply failed to bear any good fruit. It was like a hill of corn standing among the weeds. When the fall comes, and the corn is gathered in, on that hill there is found no ear of corn. The stalk is there, the leaves are there, the tassel is there, every appearance of a hill of corn is there, but no corn. That hill is useless.

Just so the Lord says of a certain class of men. They bring no fruit to perfection. It is the fruit that is required. It is not enough simply to live, to have an existence, to keep ourselves from doing positive wrong. There must be some active, aggressive work done for the Master.

To some degree we all have these gifts of God. Perhaps you have had fifty years of life, and during this time have had excellent health, and good hearing and eye-sight; you have been surrounded by friends,—by children, by brothers and sisters, by neighbors. All these have needed encouragement, have needed a word of correction or instruction. You have had the word of God before you. You have had the Sabbath-school, the prayer-meeting, and the public worship of God. You may have helped to sustain these, but how much more you might have done had all

these fifty years of life been constantly and energetically used in the service of God! What have you done in that time? It will not do to say that you have not murdered nor lied. You have no business to do these things anyway; but, positively, what have you done? Where are the sheaves gathered for the Master? Who can point to you as the one who guided his feet in the ways of righteousness? These are solemn thoughts, and they ought to be carefully weighed now, while we have an opportunity.

Perhaps you say, “I have but a small talent,” and some even say, “I have only half a talent.” Be careful. Look at the parable of the talents. Who was it that neglected to use what his lord gave him? Not the one that had received the five talents, nor the one that had two; it was the man who had received the least of all,—one talent. It was so small that he thought it did not amount to much, and he therefore neglected and despised it; and when the master came, he was the very one who was found unfaithful.

The Lord did not arrange this parable by accident. It was designed to teach us this fact, that those who have the least talent are in the most danger of neglecting it. The man who has great ability is very likely to use it, because he can do great work. Men will praise him,—call him talented, eloquent,—and hence he is not in so much danger of being idle as the one that has but little talent. Often we hear persons say, “If I could pray as that brother can, I would pray oftener in meeting.” That is, if you had five talents you would use them, but having only one you will not use that one! You are ashamed of it. We hear others say, “If I could preach like that man, I would give my life to the work.” You might speak with a brother privately, you might attend the house of God, you might give a little to the support of the cause; but because you cannot do great things you neglect to do the little ones which you might easily do. I positively believe there is more danger to this class of persons, those who have but little ability, than to those who have greater talents. They make up the great rank and file of the Lord’s army. The specially talented ones are few and far between. The Lord’s work must depend largely on these one-talented persons. The prayer-meetings, social meetings, and missionary work depend on them. They are everywhere, in every family; and if they all do a little, it will amount to a vast deal in the aggregate.

There is another solemn fact which is seldom taken into consideration, and that is, that our talents grow with use. Reader, this is the special point to which I wish to call your attention. Every year impresses me with the fact that no person can tell what he can do until he tries. Strength is gained by exercise. It seldom comes in any other way. This is true of all strength,—strength of body, strength of mind, or strength of purpose. The world is full of illustrations on every hand showing that you never can tell what is in a man until he is brought to the trial. Numberless persons everywhere possess latent power of which neither they nor any one else is aware. It is latent simply because they are idle. They have never risen up in the strength of their manhood to use and develop this reserve force. Occasionally persons of this class who have reached middle age without amounting to much, are then thrust out where they have to sink or swim. All at once everybody is astonished to find what excellent powers they have. They are astonished at it themselves; but they always had this power.

We say, then, that you cannot tell what you can do until you have tried, and tried repeatedly, and tried long. For instance, when the writer was sixteen years old, he could not write his name. He went to school, and the teacher wrote him a copy. It seemed impossible for him to write like that. He sat down at the same table, with the same paper, the same pen, and the same ink, and began to copy. Oh, how stiff and unwieldy his fingers were! What great, crooked marks he made! He might have stopped, and said, “I have not the talent to write. I do not know how. God never made me to write.” That is the way a great many do. They make one faint effort to pray, to speak, or to do missionary work; it is awkward and hard for them, and they do not have much success. But they should persevere. If the writing had been dropped there, it would have been a failure; but effort after effort was made, very painfully, very slowly, very discouragingly. Finally, after a long training, what different marks were made by the same hand! At last he could write as well as his teacher.

Strength comes by use. Suppose I were to tie up my right hand, and, out of compassion give it a rest, never using it for six months. Then if, at the end of that time, I should command it to work, how much strength would I have in that hand? It could hardly lift itself. This is not the way in which strength is gained. Put that hand to work every day, and see how the muscles will develop, until the hand has three times the strength it had before. It is just so with the man mentally or spiritually. Take a man who is twenty, thirty, or forty years old, but has never prayed, never exercised faith in God, never put his mind to study, never taken any active interest in any part of the work of God, and he is as weak as a babe. It does not seem to him that he can do anything, and really he can do but very little at first. He must practice, he must expect to fail and try again; but let him not be discouraged. Others have learned, and he can learn.

Look at the men who learn trades. Was that man born a blacksmith? Did he know his trade when he first took up his hammer? Certainly not. He had to go into the shop with another man, strike with him, spoil a piece of iron, try again, make a failure, try again. After months and years of patient drill, he was fit to be trusted with work himself. The most skillful workman has had to learn by painful experience and long drill everything he knows. So it is in the work of God. When a man says he cannot do anything, has not the talent for it, does not know how, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is simply saying, “I have not tried to learn the business; I have not given my attention and thought to it.” But God will weigh the man according to what he might have been.

Sometimes, when in a city, I have gone from shop to shop, from corner to corner, studying the habits of merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics. How energetic they are, how careful of every minute, how they rush from one business to another, how they drive, how vigilant they are. If they make a mistake, they do not get discouraged; they try again. I have compared these with the laborers for the Lord, who are so stupid, so listless, who make such faint efforts, and are always saying, “I can’t; I don’t know how; I have no talent!” Brethren and sisters, shall we not wake up, and put a little of this drive, and energy, and life into the work of God that men put into their worldly affairs? If this were done, it would be found that the world is full of talent, of ability, of men who can work mightily for God.

The case of Moses is very much to the point. We know that the Lord chose him from his brethren, and he became a mighty man of God. Now, see what he said and what he thought of himself when the Lord called him: “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.” Ex. 4:10–14.

At the first Moses acted as a great many do now. The Lord called him, and had a work for him to do; but he said: “I do not know how to speak; I am not eloquent; I have no talent.” The Lord argued the case with him, but Moses argued back. Finally the Lord’s anger was kindled against him; but fortunately Moses repented, and said he would try. He did try; and one of the most eloquent men that ever stood before an audience was that man Moses. His burning words of truth and pious eloquence have come ringing down through the ages, and by them he is speaking to us to-day. How many men there are who are excusing themselves as Moses tried to excuse himself. The Lord is calling them by his providence, by the wants of the cause, by perishing souls, by his Spirit, and they are resisting. They say they are not talented. The simple fact is, they have not the work of God in their hearts; they have not tried.

Brethren and sisters, be careful. The time of judgment is coming. All these talents of time, of strength, of money, of education, of eye-sight, of hearing, of intellectual ability,—all will be laid in the balance on one side, and on the other side what we have done. May the Lord open the hearts of our young people, and may they wake up and consecrate themselves to his service.

Look among our people. The men who have accomplished most, who have done the greatest execution in this work, how have they done it? They commenced with no experience, with little prospect of success, with small talents. They have been industrious, up early and working late. They made mistakes, but tried it over again. They have been resolute to do something. They have sought the Lord for help, and he has blessed them. They have become mighty men of God. There are scores of young men in the ranks of our people who could do the same if they would try. There must be an effort, a sacrifice, a trusting in God. If you cannot do much, do what you can. Put on strength by exercise.

We close this article by calling attention to the Master’s words, “Give an account of thy stewardship.” How they will ring in our ears and pierce our hearts in the day of Judgment! To-day we love to be spoken of as talented men, as able women, as beautiful, as educated, as persons of great influence. We are grasping. We love fine houses, and lands, and money, and all these things; but I have thought that many of us, in the day of God,—when all these blessings of time, and means, and influence, and education shall be placed on the one side, and what we have done on the other,—will wish with terrible regret that we had never possessed so much as we now have. Instead of grasping for more, let us be more anxious to improve what we have to the glory of God.