The flask of oil...

            ​I was listening to an excerpt from Pastor John Gray’s sermon, “All Access.” It was based on the story in the Old Testament about the woman whose husband had died and now she was in debt and in danger of losing her two sons to help pay that debt. What catches my attention is the fact that when the widow was asked: “What do you have in the house?” she said: “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil” (2 Kings 4:2 NLT).
            You see, to her the flask of oil was insignificant, inconsequential, unimportant. She couldn’t see how that could possibly be of any use to her especially considering the size of her debt. After all, the creditor had come to take her two sons and make them slaves in order to pay off the debt. And so, when she said, “Nothing at all…” that flask of oil was in her mind “nothing.” This also reminds me of the story of the talents in the New Testament. The man with the one talent was lazy and clearly didn’t think that his one talent was important enough to invest in. To him his one talent may have also been “nothing” and so not worth the effort.
            God has deposited so much in each of us but how many of us treat His deposits in us as “nothing”, as insignificant, not important enough to even make an investment in. Maybe that’s the reason why we are where we are . . . stuck. We are capable of doing so much more for God but we are stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity. There is so much potential in us but it is all hidden because we can’t see what God has deposited in us as important. 
              God doesn’t make junk … or mistakes. Whatever He has put in you is for purpose, it is not a waste, it is not inconsequential, it is there for a reason and speaks of all that beautiful potential inside of you. Sometimes we are too focused on everyone else’s potential that we can’t even see the precious deposits in us, deposits that are fit for the Master’s use and for His honour and glory. Stop selling yourself short. Stop seeing yourself as just a flask of oil, unimportant and insignificant. You are so much more than that. And when you surrender to God all that you have and all that you are - no matter how little and useless it may seem to you – God will do great and marvelous things in and through you but you have to surrender it all to Him. It was only when the widow surrendered that flask of oil to the prophet and obeyed his instructions for it that the answer to her problem was realized. 
            What do you have that God can use? What has He put in you that will bring honour and glory to His name? God doesn’t see your potential through your eyes, He sees your potential through His. And what He sees is far greater than anything your finite mind can dream or imagine. Think about it. What if the widow had kept that oil to herself and not surrendered it to be used according to the prophet’s instructions? Similarly, don’t keep your “oil” to yourself. Surrender it to the Master’s use and His will and watch and see how He will multiply it and do great and mighty things through it!!!

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