This morning, a conversation between three men before our worship service became a continued conversation with five men after the worship service. I was about to leave the building when one of the men involved in both conversations called me over to repeat something I said in the first conversation. Apparently, it had resonated and now I was being asked to re-engage on the topic.
Earlier, we had been talking about how literacy is a relatively recent phenomenon. The majority of the world’s population before the invention of the printing press were not literate. Which gave rise, in our conversation to a question from one of the men, “How did believers in Christ, sustain their faith without the ability to read the Bible?” One man said, “They listened better.” “They memorized more,” said another. The conversation ranged on, but the beginning of the worship service put it to an end.
One of the things I love about our growing church is the presence of many younger men who are both manly men and men who are also willing to engage in deeper theological reflection. And that is what I was being invited into this morning in the second conversation. “Would you repeat what you said earlier?”
“Well, the context was we were discussing widespread literacy and its relatively recent appearance on the stage of history and its relationship to advantages we have today compared to early believers. And I made the comment, “We have an embarrassment of riches, that we have not taken advantage of, and they (early believers) had an embarrassment of poverty, that they turned into advantage.” Garrett, real name, thought that had some merit and asked me to repeat it. And the discussion was off. Jacob, leaned into the conversation with an observation that I thought was brilliant. “It’s kind of like the parable of the talents in reverse” (Matthew 25:14-30), he said. My first response to Jacob’s comment was, “Yeah, I think you are right!” Steph was waiting in the car by now, so I had to bow out of the conversation with my final contribution. So I ended with taking Jacob’s brilliant observation to it’s logical conclusion, “Whether you bury one talent or ten, the talent is still buried, isn’t it?”
“We have an embarrassment of riches,
that we have not taken advantage of,
and they (early believers) had an embarrassment of poverty,
that they turned into advantage.”
I’ve been thinking about Jacob’s observation all afternoon. I’ll think I will think about it for the rest of life. I hope I do. How can I capitalize on the incredible privilege of all that we have available to us in our time? How can I maximize the time, talent, treasure and training that God has given me? What can I do with the embarrassment of riches that God has given? What can I turn to the gospel advantage of both my riches and my poverty so that the King gets His rightful glory?
I’m going to be thinking about that for the remainder of my life.
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