Negligence as Doubt: The Diabolical Effects of Fear on Gifts (or, "What Are You Waitings For, an Act of Congress?")

"Neglect not the gift that is in thee...." I Timothy 4:14a

There is that parable in the Gospels about the "talents" (Matthew 25:14-30), and what an apt word to use. In sum, a man goes away for a while, leaving his servants some money ("talents") for their use. However, only two of the servants made something more out of what they had been given; the third did not. Thus, it was the former that were found faithful, while the latter was cast out. Now, all of the parables of Jesus are ultimately about the marks of true and false believers: the seeds, the wheat and tares, the sheep and the goats. Even the one about the tree with the birds nesting in it (Matthew 13:31-32) carries the same theme. In the parable of the talents, we once again find what characterizes a true believer: What do they do with what they have been given? The answer: God did not give you your "talents" (so to speak) to either lay idle or to be put to your own small purposes. The gift that is in you is meant for nothing less than the glory of God and the edification of others, i.e., it is meant to build up His kingdom. To selfishly horde it, either in use or disuse, is a sign that you are "outside the camp".

Yet we must be commanded to not neglect it because we do neglect it, and neglect it often. What God has built us to do is not done, and perhaps the greatest cause of this neglect is fear. We are afraid, and in a myriad of ways: "How can this get done? It is too hard, too dark, too uncertain, too still. Am I but deluding myself? I'm I headed for failure? Am I a failure already?" These fearful doubts are but the preliminary presuppositions to the damnable doctrines of Hell. Our eyes turn inward, and we despair. Like Mary, we ask, "How shall this be?" (Luke 1:34) Unlike Mary, we do not move on and trust (Luke 1:38). We linger in doubt, doubt caused because we turn to ourselves: "How can I do it?" Thus, we despair, because the simple fact of the matter is that we cannot do it. Listen to the words of Christ: "All things are possible to him that believes" (Mark 9:23; emphasis mine). This is not a matter of mere doing. It is about faith first and then doing. It is about the God who gave you those "talents" in the first place, and about how He who began a good work in you will complete it (Phil. 1:6). He who gave you the gift will also give you the desires of your heart (Ps. 37:4).