Everyone Has Something

Martha Berry was a great woman of faith. She opened a school for needy children in Georgia in the early 1900s. One day she had the opportunity to talk to Henry Ford and boldly asked him for one million dollars for the school.

He shook his head, reached in his pocket, and said, “I’m not going to give you a million dollars, but I will give you this dime for your school.”

Rather than being insulted, Martha took the coin, thanked him, and went on her way. With that dime, she purchased peanuts and had the boys in her school plant a little crop. She took the proceeds from selling the crop and purchased more peanuts to plant, until finally she was able to purchase a piano for the school.

Martha wrote Henry Ford a letter and said, “I just wanted you to know that your gift of ten cents has been used to purchase a piano for our school.”

He was blown away and asked her to come to Detroit. When she arrived, he presented her with a check for one million dollars. “Anyone who could do all that with ten cents,” he said, “is a good investment for me to give a million dollars.”

Like Martha Berry’s story, today’s parable from Matthew 25 teaches an important lesson about facing tough situations with faith.

Each of the three men were given a sum of money (called talents in the Scripture) by their master. The first two, like Martha Berry, took what was given to them and put it to work. As a result, when their master returned, he was blessed and impressed—and he trusted them with more.

Sadly, the third man did not put what he was given to work. He looked at the relatively little he had been entrusted with and saw no opportunity for it to grow. Furthermore, he was so scared he’d lose what the master had given him, that he buried his talent in the ground. Then he blamed the master for his lack of productivity. Amazing!

So, what’s the lesson from these stories?

Focus on what you DO have, not what you DON’T.

In the book of 2 Kings, there is a story of a widow who’s facing an insurmountable debt and goes to the prophet Elisha for help. When asked what she had in her house, her first response was that she had nothing—nothing except a jar of oil.

Surely God couldn’t use something as insignificant as that, she probably thought.

We’re a lot like that, aren’t we? Our present circumstances can easily cloud our vision and can prevent us from seeing the life preserver God has already given us.

But God is the God of the impossible. He can make something out of NOTHING!

This reminds me of the incredible story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (5,000 men plus thousands of women and children). Jesus asked His disciples how they were going to feed the massive crowd.

Puzzled, the disciples exclaimed that it would take more than a year’s wages to feed everyone! And all they had was a little kid’s snack lunch. It was almost too insignificant to mention!

But in God’s hands, a jar of oil and a little kid’s lunch can accomplish the impossible.

It’s so easy to focus on what we don’t have and not on what we do have, isn’t it?

And everyone has something!

What do you have? In what things do you excel? Are you a talented writer? Do you have a winsome, outgoing personality? Do you love to pray, to teach, to witness? Do you enjoy working behind the scenes? Do you have a good singing voice?  

God has given something to everyone. He delights in using your “little” to do much. He loved using the kid’s lunch to feed the 5,000, and he loved taking the woman’s jar of oil and transforming her financial condition with it.

What will you ask God to do with what He’s given you?

1. What is your jar of oil, your snack lunch, that God wants to use for His glory? Will you dedicate this “little” thing to Him and trust Him for a blessing?

2. Thinking of today’s passage in Matthew 25:14–30, how is God sometimes like Henry Ford when he gave the dime to Martha Berry?