Am I Giving My All?

Last Saturday morning, Bella, my little Chihuahua, was out in the yard by herself just nosing around unsupervised, when all of a sudden my wife heard her wailing and screaming like she had just been struck by lightning. She rushed out-doors and picked her up, then brought her to me in my office. I hadn’t heard all the commotion and found nothing out of the ordinary, so chalked it up to another go-around with the neighbor cat, which comes in my yard to harass Bella now and then, or maybe, finally caught the squirrel and didn’t know what to do next. About ten minutes later, Bella scratched at my door to be let in. I opened the door, looked at her, and one eye was swollen completely shut. Closer examination revealed a bee stinger stuck in the upper eyelid; poor thing. I got some tweezers, removed the stinger and medicated her with liquid Children’s Tylenol. We medicated a couple of more times over the next few days and noticed the upper eyelid was not functioning, but finally, it seems to be coming to life again.

I’m into my third week of reducing the swollen parts of my body and waking up some of the unused slothful muscles that turning wrenches used to keep in shape. I had forgotten that strenuous exercise of the body also involves pushing the brain past the point of ‘no more’ into the zone of ‘no pain - no gain’ then pressing on to some sort of goal for the session at hand. I’m already losing weight and my blood-pressure is looking better. It’s funny how everything I’ve ever changed in my life for the better has produced a guilt trip of ‘Why didn’t I do this a long time ago?’ Anytime is a good time to start.

[James 2:14-26] T. B. Larimore (1843-1922), is quoted as saying, “When my hand is still, my tongue silent and my eyes closed; when friends come to look on my pale face, l want them to be able to say, at least, ‘He did the best he could.”’ Jesus told a parable in which one man failed to do the best he could (Matthew 25:14-30). Three men each with differing abilities were given talents. One received five talents, another two, and the last, one. Those who had received five and two talents increased their capital. Each was praised by his lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The one talent man was a different story. He failed to gain any more talents for his lord, and when his lord returned, he was rebuked, “You wicked, lazy servant.” He was cast into outer darkness. He had failed to give his best. The point of the parable should not be lost on any of us. The prophet Malachi rebuked the people of his day for their failure to do the best they could. They failed to bring God the best in sacrifice, but were content to bring the lame and sick (Malachi 1:13). God deserved and desired better. We must be careful that we don’t become content in offering God less than our best. Are we really doing the best we can? If we attend one service of the church during the week, is that the best we can do? Is our contribution to the work of the church the best we can do? Is our involvement in the local congregation, to the extent that it is, the best we can do? Are we living our life in such a way that it is the best we can do? Are our efforts to share the gospel with others the best we can do? Is our service in the kingdom the best we can do, or are we satisfied with half-way measures? Even when we do our best it is important to remember these words of Jesus: “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10). God gave the best of Heaven (John 3:16). What will we give Him in return? Think about it, will you?