Bushel Basket
It is a terrible thing not to live up to one's capacities. When we face the fact of that sentence, we admit immediately that not one of us does live up to his or her capacities. We bury our talents in the field, we hide our light under the bushel basket.
I once had occasion to enter into conversation with a man of seeming rough appearance who was called "foolish" and "eccentric" by people of his acquaintance. His manner was brusque, his air uncouth, his speech abrupt. I had had some contact with him over a long period of time and had, little by little, accepted that general verdict concerning his nature and capacity.
An occasion arose which changed the concept completely. It was a discussion on economic theory. I had read several books on economics and gave out my conclusion drawn from one of the outstanding writers on economy in our country. The man in question broke out violently that this well-known economist was "crazy," "wild," and "foolish" to say some of the things he had put forth in his book. I would have dismissed this outburst as a diatribe from a pretentious ignoramus were it not for the fact that suddenly, almost with the air of a sop thrown to a dog, the man tossed out one or two sentences which were sparkling in clarity and which threw much light on the subject under discussion. I asked a question and suddenly, with an air which seemed to be one of condescension, the man began to speak on economic theory. I interjected a question from time to time and kept the man going for nearly three hours. It was immediately plain that here was a man eminently qualified to handle the subject and undertake discussions with the best of the experts in the field. As I later studied the man and talked about him with certain of my acquaintances, I became convinced that he had a mind so keen that he was living on a mountain peak by himself and had become adamant in his intolerance of lesser minds. He had, thereby, bitter enemies, and had failed to progress in life since he had failed in his relationships with men.
There is a spiritual analogy of great importance. The Christian by the new birth has been made a "partaker of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). Christ has been "made" to us "wisdom" (1 Cor. 1:30), and "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16). There is, therefore, the temptation to sit in our high position, aloof and content, and to fail in our witness to others, hiding the light of our eternal life from those around us through contempt for the failure of the unsaved to see truth as we see it.
Poor unsaved man does not know any better. "If our gospel is hid it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:3,4). "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18). We must at every point recognize this fact and proceed with a tact which can only come from a complete surrender to the Holy Spirit. I had told this man, in a kindly way, that the reason his ideas were not accepted among men was because he had failed to be tactful, for most men will receive error with politeness but few men receive truth without it.
Let us be willing to cast aside everything which will keep the light of the Lord Jesus Christ from shining into the hearts of men. Our attitude must not be that of Jove, alone among the clouds, nor of one condescending toward unfortunates, but rather let it be that of those who have no pride in seeing their own opinions vindicated in an argument, but only a desire that the truth of God should go through to take root and produce fruit unto life eternal.
1. It can be difficult at times to forget that what we know is completely based on the initiative of God, how does one keep this in their head while talking with unbelievers?
2. How does Matthew 5:13-16 teach us about this concept?
