God's Good Stewards

The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25: 14-30

¹⁴"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents^[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

¹⁹"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

²¹"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

²²"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'

²³"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

²⁴"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

²⁶"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 25:15 A talent was worth more than a thousand dollars.

Our pastor reminded us this morning that "talents" were not necessarily what we refer to as those things that we can do that others cannot. But to give an equivalent, gifts (our version of "talents") that we have been given by God are kind of what I'm going to refer to here.

We are all given gifts by God, and we often don't do with them what we ought. Some of us have gifts of caring for others, and yet we choose careers that either have nothing to do with helping and caring for others, or worse yet, hurt others.

That's one of the reasons I chose to get out of newspaper work altogether (that and I pretty much have no other papers in the area to go to). I was part of a business that, rather than help people all the time, had a reputation for simply informing, entertaining or causing pain. (Not the particular company, but the newspaper business as a whole.) I'm someone who likes to help people, and I didn't feel that I was using the gifts that God had given me as I should.

Although I'm looking for work again and trying to find something that I can use my degree with, I do plan on continuing toward my certification as an interpreter, and want to use that certification for church work. This is a gift that God has given me that I can't ignore and do nothing with anymore. I have finally realized that I was selfishly hiding my gift in the ground rather than investing it as I should.

What gift has God given you that you have hidden rather than investing?