What Are We Doing?

In his sermon titled ‘Preach the Gospel,” Spurgeon said something we all would do well to consider. I’ll elaborate afterward. Here is the section that spoke to me: “ . . . God reminds us that all our gifts are borrowed. And strikingly have I this morning been reminded of that great truth—that all our gifts are borrowed, by reading in a newspaper [this report]: "Last week, the quiet neighborhood of New Town was much disturbed by an occurrence which has thrown a gloom over the entire neighborhood. A gentleman of considerable attainment, who has won an honorable degree at the university has for some months been deranged. He had kept an academy for young gentlemen, but his insanity had obliged him to desist from his occupation, and he has for some time lived alone in a house in the neighborhood." "The landlord obtained a warrant of ejectment; and it being found necessary to handcuff him, he was, by sad mismanagement, compelled to remain on the steps, exposed to the gaze of a great crowd, until at last a vehicle arrived, which conveyed him to the asylum. One of his pupils (says the paper) is Mr. Spurgeon." Spurgeon continued: “The man from whom I learned whatever of human learning I have, has now become a raving lunatic in the Asylum! When I saw that, I felt I could bend my knee with humble gratitude and thank my God that not yet had my reason reeled, not yet had those powers departed. Oh! how thankful we ought to be that our talents are preserved to us, and that our mind is not gone! Nothing came nearer and closer to me than that. There was one who had taken all pains with me—a man of genius and of ability; and yet there he is! how fallen! how fallen!" "How speedily does human nature come from its high estate and sink below the level of the brutes?” Bless God my friends, for your talents! Thank him for your reason! Thank him for your intellect! . . . . Take heed to yourself lest . . . you say: "This is Babylon that I have built” (Here Spurgeon references the great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 4). ------- This passage spoke to me as I read it on my Kindle because I am a lay chaplain for those suffering varying degrees of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Some were men and women of great learning and position. They were teachers, doctors, accountants, attorneys. Some were great artists and writers. But now, disease has reduced them to shells of the men and women they were – some only a few months ago. I have acknowledged to myself more than a few times as I spoke to them about Jesus, His love, His sacrifice for them – I recognized there but for the grace of God go I or Nancy (especially after her stroke), or anyone we love. You’ve heard the expression: Life is fragile; Handle with prayer. And this current COVID health crisis has brought that truism too close to home for too many people. Our life and our gifts are loaned to us by God. So, what are we doing with them? And most important: What are you doing with Jesus’ call on your life?