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What Is My Talent?

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 9, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 37, No. 21.

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“What Is My Talent?”

By Charles P. Whitford

THERE are many wonderful and strange events coming to pass in the earth, all of which are but the fulfillment of the predictions in the word of God. It is a great privilege to live amid such eventful scenes. At the same time, great is the responsibility of those who live at this time. God, in his mercy, has enlightened our minds, and given us to understand where we are living in the history of this world, and the dangers that threaten us at this time. He has revealed to us through apostles and prophets that there would be “distress of nations with perplexity,” Luke 21:25; “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation;” Dan. 12:1; all given and foretold as so many evidences by which we might know that the “end of all things is at hand.”
And while we are permitted to live amid such a blaze of light, and surrounded by such abundant opportunities for extending the light of truth to others, is it not important to inquire, “What is my talent?” On the other hand, what a glorious stimulant there is to the question, that “they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever.”
It is, however, a lamentable fact that there are very many to whom God has intrusted talents of influence, and upon whom the full, blazing light of present truth has been permitted to shine, who are mere idlers in this last message of mercy, having made a profession of religion, but evincing none of the lively evidences of its possession. Dear brethren and sisters, unless we awake to duty, will not God say to us at his great tribunal before whom all must soon appear, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting”? If we remain careless and inactive in the cause of God; if we refuse to work, and work earnestly, not only for our own salvation, but the salvation of others, can we expect the “crown of life” which is promised as a reward for well-doing? Can we ever hear the “well done” said unto us unless we have done well?
My Christian brother and sister, is it not time that we equip ourselves with the whole armor of God, and like good soldiers go to work in earnest for God and his precious cause? Dare we delay any longer in this day of probation, in this hour of the Judgment, when every one of us has a case pending in the heavenly sanctuary above, which must soon be eternally decided? Can it be true that all the heavenly hosts are engaged for the salvation of our friends and neighbors, while we who profess such a lively interest in their eternal welfare, neglect or even refuse to go and warn them of the judgments that are coming upon all those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark?
Ah! brethren, do we really believe the things we profess? If our faith were in lively exercise, would not our affections, tempers, passions, and appetites, all be consecrated to God and his service? Oh! how long shall we remain in this lukewarm state, when just before are the glory-gilt mountains of God’s redeeming love?
Does it not seem as though the last Testimony should arouse us to action? Is it possible that none but those who agonize daily will go through? Oh! when will the true spirit of agonizing, the spirit of wrestling Jacob-like, and prevailing with God, rest on the church? The answer comes back to my heart, When we give up our idols, make a full surrender of self and the world, live out the Testimonies, and consecrate ourselves wholly to God, then will the genuine spirit of labor rest upon us, and we shall be ready to inquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
God who gave us each a talent, To employ it gave command; If we hide it in a napkin, He will claim it at our hand. Let us then be up and doing, Keeping still this truth in view: Though our path be e’er so humble, We have all a work to do. With the heralds of the gospel, If we cannot bear a part, We can drop a word of kindness That may reach some careless heart; We may touch a chord of feeling Guilt and sin have lulled to sleep; To the blessed fold of Jesus We may bring some wandering sheep.
CHARLES P. WHITFORD.
Berkshire Center, Vt