I have read how “the Roman Aqueduct at Segovia, Spain was built in A.D.109. For eighteen hundred years it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, ‘This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor.’ They did and they ruined it. They laid modern iron pipes to carry the water. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall.”²

The same principle applies to one’s personal and family life, to his business, and/or to his or her church. When the Roman Aqueduct stopped serving others, it slowly fell apart. When a business or a church stops serving others, it too begins to fall apart. When family members ignore family responsibilities, the family rapidly falls apart. And as individuals when we stop using our God-given gifts—both natural and spiritual gifts—and fail to fulfill our God-given life purpose, little by little, what we once had in golden opportunities to serve we lose.

It’s an old adage but there’s a lot of truth in it: If you don’t use it, you will lose it!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to use the gifts and talents you have given me to serve you by serving others in the endless opportunities you give me every day. Grant that when I come to the end of life’s journey I won’t be among those who have nothing but ‘dry bricks’ to offer you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Galatians 5:13 (NKJV).

2. Cited on KneEmail #774, http://www.forthright.net/kneemail/