In 1 Corinthians 3:9 we read that, “For we are labourers tougher with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” A talent of knowledge, sanctified and put into use in the Master’s service is never lost.
A self-sacrificing effort to do good will is crowned with success. We are labourers together with God.
“The Lord desires us to obtain all the education possible, with the object in view, of imparting our knowledge to others. . . .Let the youth who need an education set to work with a determination to obtain it. . . . Procure every advantage within your reach for strengthening the intellect. Let the study of books be combined with useful manual labour, and by faithful endeavor, watchfulness, and prayer secure the wisdom that is from above. . . . True education means more than the colleges can give. While the study of the sciences is not to be neglected, there is a higher learning to be obtained through a vital connection with God.” –Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333–334
All true wisdom and knowledge comes from God. Martin Luther said, “well prayed is half studied.”
Dr. David Livingston, the missionary to Africa, was still very young (at about 12 years old), when he had to work in a factory to help support his family. He was using a type of weaving machine to do his work. He had a great desire to learn and to go to school, but it cost money, which the family could not afford. Livingston got a book and put it near his work station, so that once in a while he could glance at it. This was the way he learned the language of Latin, which was needed at that time in the schools. He also learned other subjects. Then he went to do his exams and passed with high marks. Later he could afford school and studied medicine. He was hungering for knowledge and he got it. Yet he did not keep it to himself, but went to Africa to teach and share it with the natives there.
Knowledge is a gift, a talent, not to be kept to ourselves, but to be shared in helping others as much as we can. I am happy that I can help a little. A lot of people in church help children in Africa who need to get an education in order to have a future, which is really important. I pay the school fees of a little orphan whose father was a worker in our church, but he died.
Earlier this summer, my grandmother and I sent some of my old books to people who would benefit from them. The books were about different topics such as Nature, Animals, and Science; there were some children’s Bibles also. The recipients were happy to have them. A teacher from a nearby school came to see the books, and wished he would have books like that in his school also.
God has given us many blessings. It is our duty to share them with others. We must not be like the one man who received one talent and buried it not using it. It was later taken away and he lost everything.
Let us learn to study to receive knowledge so we can share with others what we have learned. This is the will of God and my wish and prayer for all. Amen.
Tiffany Bessec