In Sunday School this past week, we finished up a small group study of how to live our lives according to spiritual principles. Our last lesson was out of Matthew 25:14-30… the parable of the talents. I’ve been chewing a lot on this particular passage for a number of reasons that include this trip that is coming up. Of course, I’ve had the time because I was recently laid off, but that’s another story that’s already been addressed in a previous blog.
The Passage (ESV):
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20And
he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five
talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I
have made five talents more.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22And
he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you
delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23His
master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have
been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the
joy of your master.’ 24He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27Then
you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming
I should have received what was my own with interest.28So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an
abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken
away. 30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five
talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I
have made five talents more.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22And
he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you
delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23His
master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have
been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the
joy of your master.’ 24He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27Then
you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming
I should have received what was my own with interest.28So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an
abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken
away. 30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
I’ve read this passage over and over and over again, read commentaries, and here’s what God has struck me with. We all have talents. We have abilities, things we are better at doing than other people. Some people have been given great abilities that tend to throw us in the spotlight, while others have been given smaller gifts that keep them in the background.
The thing is that God has given these talents to us. He’s given them to us in the hopes that we will invest them in His kingdom, in treasures that can’t be touched by the destructive forces of this world we live in here and now. This is what we as Christians are called to do, and should be seeking. The two servants who saw profits invested in exactly this. They invested in the kingdom that is to come and is here already in our hearts and minds. They are who we should strive to be in this scenario.
But the truth is that we often fall into the category of the servant in this parable who buries his talent in the dirt. We hide these abilities. We dig a place for them where no one else can get to them, bury them, and pretend like they aren’t there, like they don’t really exist or matter. Or we use them for something other than the reason why God gave them to us in the first place. In the case of those who aren’t Christians, this isn’t a huge surprise. They don’t believe in the sovereignty or majesty of God, and have no reason to invest in something they don’t support.
In the case of those who are Christians, I guess you could call this an instance of not trusting God. When we dig the hole to bury our gift in, we’re telling God we think He gave it to the wrong person. We’re throwing His gifts to us deliberately in His face. We’re telling Him they’re not good enough, that he didn’t get it right and needs to go back to the drawing board because He’s so wrong.
One of the biggest things about preparing for this trip, besides dealing with all the sin issues in my life, is going to be breathing new life into the gifts and passions God has placed on my heart. I’ve been like the last servant in this parable. I’ve wasted so many opportunities for Him to use what He’s given me, for Him to work in my heart and get it ready to share the things I know. I can’t do that once I get out in the field. I can’t waste the resources God has given me. He’s given them to me for a reason, even if the reason has yet to unfold. The question that needs to be answered is – “what are they?”
