The Pulpit Speaks: January 3, 1959

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

“For the kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.”

This story is known to all Bible scholars. Here we find a man going on a long journey. He called all of his servants together and made each a custodian. It appeared to me that each one of us has been called in the presence of God and made custodians. The very fact that we have been brought to the very brink of another year carries with it also that we are custodians.

We are all custodians and we need to make no mistake about that. The greater care we use on those things in our care the better will be our conditions, and the greater will be our reward.

These men were called face to face with their master. To one, he gave five talents, to another four, and to the third, one.

The man who had five talents invested them and, on the day of reckoning, came back with ten. The one who had been entrusted with four went out and invested them and came back with eight. The one who had been given one came back with one and a mouth full of excuses. Much like many of us today, we find ourselves closely related to these people.

Contrary to the idea held by the man with the one talent, each of us must be mindful of our responsibilities of world conditions. The way that each of us uses his talent is now and will always be in keeping with the conditions of the world. As much as many of us like to pass the responsibility for the conditions to the other person, the time has come when each of us must assume our portion of the conditions and govern ourselves accordingly.

I grant that to many of us, as to the man of the one talent, it is very much in keeping with our human nature that we try to shift our short-comings on someone else. But in our saner moments, we must admit that we have no one to blame for our contributions, or lack of same, but ourselves. It is my deep-seated belief that when we look at world conditions and our contribution to the betterment of it, we are not so prone to criticize things, but rather be very rash with ourselves for our lack of contributions.

It has been my belief that hardly a day passes that we do not have an opportunity to grow in moral and spiritual stature ourselves and make it possible for someone else to grow as well. In many instances, only a look or a statement by he who has been able to stem the tide of immorality himself will be able to point a person to a better way of like.

The current world conditions show to us a very sad picture. There must be change. The day for men mindful of their custody of talents must be known. In far too many instances we are faced with the presence of men in high places who are unmindful of the great moral and spiritual responsibilities which accompany them.

Well, I imagine at this point, many of us will console ourselves that we are not in a high place; therefore, we are not responsible. Never have we been further from the truth. The rising tide of ungodliness on the part of people throughout the world points to the fact that men and God, and real men of God, must rise up.

I know there are many of us who can and do point to our shortcomings and are on the verge of say, “Oh, what’s the use!” I am fully aware of the fact that many of us could definitely say, “What is the use?” But there is a use! Daily we receive blessings. From year to year, we receive blessings and along with those blessings comes responsibilities. We can never separate ourselves from our responsibilities. Those of us who live under the illusion that other people’s suffering, heartaches and the like are not our business are in for a bitter disappointment.

The most wholesome way to approach the new year is to do so with the full knowledge that, as we enter upon a new year, we must be mindful of the fact that we must face up to the opportunities that will confront us each day.

As much as we would like to look at the new year as a day of joy, we must take a second look and see it as a day of responsibility – and grave responsibility at that. There is no need of us fooling ourselves. The world will get better only in proportion that we, as individuals, get better. There is no time for us to point the finger of accusation at someone else. Our basic responsibility now boils down to the place where each of us must examine “number one” and, after getting number one in the good graces of society and God, we will be in a better position to assist someone else.

The whole thing boils down to just this: we are custodians of all that with which we have been entrusted. Failure on the part of any of us to live up to the best of which we are capable will, in the final analysis, make us responsible for the current conditions of the world.

As much as we would like to take this as a joke, living in this day and age is no joke. The demands of extending the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth must be a part of all our activities. With this in mind, many of us face a job for which we are hardly ready.