Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to see/hear a sequence from the movie, Amadeus, where Antonio Salieri is overwhelmed and jealous of the talent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, showing us that God doesn’t always place His talents in mankind in the fashion we might like or consider fair.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Matthew 20: 16 [NKJV] …
16 The last will be first, and the first last. For many are called; but few are chosen.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Matthew 20: 1-16 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] …
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Reference Passage #2 – NKJV: Matthew 25: 14-30 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
Reference Passage #3– NKJV: Romans 12: 1-8 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
Reference Passage #4: 1st Peter 4: 10 [NKJV] …
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Reference Passage #5: 1st Corinthians 12: 4-7 [NKJV] …
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all …
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional reminded me of one of the themes of the movie, Amadeus, where the famed 18th Century composer Antonio Salieri was contracted by his king to compose a piece of music; and so, being a Christian, Salieri wanted it to honor God and his king when he brought his self-composed piece of music before the king’s court. But also present when the piece was introduce was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a young, upstart composer who upstaged the older, more famous Salieri in front of the King. The sequence is linked above for viewing; and it shows how God’s design on the distribution of His inspired talents/gifts is not always measured out in ways we see as “fair” or appropriate.
But as God prophesied through Isaiah (see Is. 55: 8-9 above), God’s ways are quite often obscure and passed out in ways that we have trouble understanding. Hence, a man like Salieri, who was dedicated to composing music for God’s glory, had trouble understanding and seeing so much God-inspired gifting in a care-free and ungodly merchant of music like Mozart.
But as emissaries of God’s will in our lives, we must do all we can to be stewards of the talents and gifts which the Lord has given each of us to use for His glory. Hence we read the admonishments and exhortations from Scripture above to use all that God has given us, … time, talents, and treasure, … for His glory (see the Parable of the Talents in Matt. 25: 14-30). And as Paul and Peter instructed the church (see the passages above), all Christians have been given special gifts within the body of Christ to use for the Body’s edification and power. It’s our job to discover our own, personal, God-given gifts and use them for God’s purposes.
So, as the old Nike commercial phrase posited, … Let’s … JUST DO IT!!
My Prayer for Today … Lord, today, … may what I’ve written here from Your gifting be used for Your glory or for Your purposes. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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