For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
Matthew 25:29
On March 26, 1994, Ronald Opus jumped from the top of a ten-story building, intending to commit suicide. He died that day, but not from the ten-story leap. As he fell past the 9th floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the 8th floor to protect building workers. Were it not for the gunshot, Mr. Opus would have lived.
Here's what happened. An elderly man and his wife, who had been arguing vigorously, occupied the 9th-floor room where the shotgun blast emanated. The man had been threatening his wife with the gun, and became so upset that he pulled the trigger and missed his wife completely. The pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus.
Bizarrely, the elderly man told authorities that it was a long-standing habit of his to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun, but that he never had any intent to kill her. Someone else, he insisted, had loaded the gun.
And sure enough, a witness confirmed that the couples' son had done so. An investigation found that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support, and that the son had loaded the gun, knowing his father's propensity to threaten her with it. He wanted his mother dead. But it doesn't end there.
Authorities determined that the son would be guilty of murder, even though he had not actually pulled the trigger.
After all, the blood of Ronald Opus was on his hands. But as the investigation continued, authorities were shocked to find that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become despondent over his failure to engineer his mother's murder, and had jumped off the ten-story building, only to be killed by the shotgun blast passing through the 9th-story window.
Ronald Opus had actually murdered himself.
Unbelievable. When I heard that story, I thought, "What a waste!" Here was a man who valued life so little -- his mother's life, his father's life, and his own life -- that he actively pursued death. He tried to kill not only his mother, but himself.
He had been given the greatest resources available -- life, family, health -- and in squandering his family's lives, lost his own. He held such little value in that which he had been given that he murdered the last resource that ultimately mattered to him: himself.
You know, the way we treat our resources says a lot about what we value. We don't squander that which we hold dear. We don't let go to waste that which holds potential. Jesus tells the parable in Matthew 25 of a master who gives his three servants a measure of money. The first two servants invest the money, and make the master a profit.
But the third servant does nothing with it. And without notice, the master takes the money from the third servant, giving it to the servant who had more. Why? Because the third servant didn't value the little he'd been given. Sure, he says he did, but he sat on it. Maybe he didn't realize its potential to grow. Maybe he didn't care, or was afraid. Whatever the case, the master took the money away. You see, if we truly value the resources God has given us, we will use them. If we hold dear our life, our family, our health -- we will do everything we can not only to preserve them, but to invest in them.
No doubt, God has given us amazing resources. Do you realize the value of your breath? Of your family? Of God's Word? Of His power to work in and through you?
Today, don't squander God's blessings.
Don't sit on the gifts he's given you. Actively invest in them, grow them, and realize their potential. May we become people who appreciate and use the awesome resources God has given us!
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