Use your talents

Luigi Tarisio was born in Italy in 1796. A collector of violins, he took great pride in scouting out rare finds and purchasing only instruments of the finest quality. No one really knew about Tarisio’s passion, however, until after he died. It was while his estate was being appraised that some 246 valuable violins were discovered in his attic! One of the most expensive, hidden in the drawer of an old dresser, was a Stradivarius he had purchased from someone who had also bought it solely as a collector’s item. Commenting on the matter, Dr. W.Y. Fullerton, the gifted Baptist preacher, noted that in preserving the instrument, Tarisio “had robbed the world of all that music.” And others before him had done the same. In fact, by the time the greatest Stradivarius in his collection was finally played, 147 years had elapsed! One psychologist said, “Don’t die with your music still inside you…Don’t get to the end of your life and say, ‘What if my whole life has been wrong?’” God gave you gifts and He expects you to use them. If you wait until you can do it perfectly, you’ll never do it at all. Jesus said, “You are the world’s seasoning, to make it tolerable. If you lose your flavor, what will happen to the world? And you yourselves will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the world’s light—a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see” (Matthew 5:13-14 TLB). Understand this: God will hold you accountable for discovering your talents, developing them to the fullest, and using them to glorify Him and bless others.