“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.
So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
‘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. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25 14:30
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this parable. It is probably one of my favorites.
The first thing that stands out to me is the word “talents”, back in those days it was a form of currency. But I like to think of it in the form of the way that we would use today “talent meaning a natural aptitude or skill”.
We have all been gifted by God with natural skills. Skills that if we were to uncover and develop would serve many people for His glory. It is our responsibility to take the time to find out what these talents are and then to leverage them to help the most people possible again for God’s glory.
My pastor has a great talent of taking the word of God and preaching ways that we can apply the word of God in our daily lives which is great. But he also mentioned one day that their is a gentleman in the church that makes sure all the offering envelopes, information cards, pens and Bibles are properly in their place every week.
The question is which talent is more important. I believe that in God’s eyes they are equally important to the whole if they are done in faithfulness to the glory of God.
The key being that we have to be faithful when the amounts are small and big.
If we simply overlook a talent that God has given us, we are disrespecting our Creator and in the end according to the parable, the unprofitable servant will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like too much fun to me.
Here are some questions to consider:
1. What talent do you have that you might over look that might be very valuable to the whole? Don’t be fooled here, there are many things that you may find very easy for you that others don’t think is so easy. We don’t tend to give a lot of value to things that we find easy for ourselves.
And sometimes, we are not very impatient with people who are not as knowledgable about our unique talents. This is where the serving part comes in.
2. Are we making the most of this talent? Are we serving as many people as we can with this God given talent?
3. Are we WILLINGLY helping those that need our skills and talents? Or are we doing it begrudgingly?
I’m sure we have all heard the saying, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” This is what happened with the third servant in the parable.
Don’t put yourself in that position. Start using those talents that you have to serve for God’s Glory!
As Always, Here’s to Your LifetoSuccess,
God Bless You,
John Clark
Great job John, Give God the glory and see how he will use your talents. God Bless…..