I just finished Watson's "Doctrine of Repentance," which I have started to read many different times in my life but never finished. It takes hard work to get through anything written by a puritan, and Watson is one of the easier ones. Every paragraph I read made me want to put the book down, journal, and work on something in my life for a month or two. It felt weird to plow through pages at a time.
One of his best thoughts -- and by best I think I mean most applicable to me -- was in a section in which he was discussing repentance among the church:
"Repent of your non-improvement of talents. Health is a talent; estate is a talent; wit and parts are talents; and these God has entrusted you with to improve for His glory. He has sent you into the world as a merchant sends his factor beyond the seas to trade for his master's advantage, but you have not done the good you might. Can you say, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds' (Luke 19:18)? O mourn at the burial of your talents! Let it grieve you that so much of your age has not been time lived but time lost; that you have filled up your golden hours more with froth than with spirits."
This thought got me pretty good. A few months back I was able to have coffee with an old mentor and family friend, whose advice to me was to find my talents - to look at the things that I enjoy doing and that I am good at. Why? Because God has made me with a unique concoction of talents and passions, which are His gifts to me, and He expects me to use them! How am I improving on, and nurturing, the talents that God has given me?
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