Helen’s Difficulty
Helen Preston was reading the parable of the pounds from Luke 19. When she had reached the end, she sat back in her little rocking chair with a very sober face. Presently Aunt Emma came in, and, seeing the small figure in the chair, said, “Why, Helen, what’s the matter? You look puzzled.”
“So I am, Auntie. Why didn’t he praise the man for taking good care of his one pound? If he didn’t want to use it, why wasn’t he right to keep it carefully until the owner’s return?”
Mrs. Vernon came and sat down by her little niece, and after a moment’s thought, said, “What was the command given to each man as he received the pounds?”
Helen glanced down at the open Bible in her lap, and after a little hesitation, replied, “ ‘Occupy till I come.’ (Luke 19:13)”
“Yes, and when their lord returned he called them all to him, that he might know how much they had gained by trading. Evidently, then, they were supposed to make good use of those pounds. They were to be used in such way as would make it most profitable to the owner.”
Helen’s face brightened. “Now I understand it. I thought they were only to take care of the pounds until his return.”
“When you read these parables you must remember they are picture-lessons—stories with meanings to them, and the things Jesus wanted to teach the people were more important than the real facts in the story. Do you know what is the meaning of this parable?”
Helen always liked Auntie’s questions. Now she said eagerly, “Oh, yes; this was our Sunday-school lesson not long ago. Teacher said it was to show us how God expected a right use of the things he has given us.”
“What things, Helen?” questioned Auntie.
“Time, and—and the being able to do things—” Helen hesitated; it wasn’t easy to put into words, though she knew what it meant—“you know, Auntie, it may be little things or big things, our hands or our feet, our thoughts, our tongues, and ever so many others.”
Aunt Emma smiled. “Yes, dear, whatever God has given us the power to do ought to be done rightly and well, so as to please and honor Him. To let that power lie idle—to do nothing when we might do something—is being unfaithful to Him who has trusted us with it.”
“Like the man with the one pound.”
“Just so; Jesus wanted to teach us that neglect to use what he has given us to make good use of is sin. Suppose, Helen, it was grain, instead of money, that this man gave to his servants. All but one sowed it in the proper season, and when harvest time came they had a much larger amount of grain than at the first, because they had made good use of it.”
“And what did the one man do?”
“He carefully put the grain away in a sack in the barn, and when after some years the owner claimed it, he brought it out, and lo! it was all mildewed and dried up, of no use at all. So you see the very keeping of some things wastes and spoils them, while the using of them increases their value. We often think that we only sin when we do wrong, but Jesus tells us that we sin when we fail to do right.”
“Why, I never thought of it that way, Aunt Emma,” said Helen, with a very sober look.
“Perhaps not, dearie, but don’t forget it in the future. To waste time or anything else God has given us, or to spend it foolishly or uselessly, is as wrong as to use it for evil purposes. Try, little Helen, to make a good use of your life and everything in it, that at the end God may say to you also, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ (Matthew 25:23)”