The Parable of Your Talents

The parable of the talents is a great story. It’s also a principle that plays a big role in our lives, bigger than we may think. To be completely transparent, right now is not the closest I’ve ever felt to God. It’s progressively getting better for sure, but if I look back at one of the times I was the most connected to God, it would have to be when I was writing for him. The book, Rise & Shine Bright at Work has a lot of scripture in it, so you could say it’s because I was in the Word more than usual so that could definitely be a contributor to the strength of the relationship, and that was a part of it. But, simply reading the Word of God isn’t what draws you close to God and God close to you, it’s actually doing what the Word says. [James 1;22-25 / John 8:31-32] What was key about that time is, along with the other things that enriches my relationship with God, I was putting another biblical principle into practice, and in this case, it was Matthew 25:14-17 and that was another part of it.

There were 3 people and each one were given talents (gold) i.e. abilities/resources. One of them got 5 of them, one got 2 of them, one got 1 of them. But everything they received was of great value, no matter the quantity. Two of these people “went at once” and put it “to work!” Did you see that? There was no hesitation. They were aware of what they were given and literally wasted no time and put it to work. 

Question: “Have I been given an ability or resource from God and have I immediately put it to work for God?”

The result of this urgency and diligence was pretty awesome. They doubled what they had. Wow! That’s a biblical principle right there that should be highlighted in our minds. When we use what God has given us, it produces godly fruit! Do you desire to produce godly fruit? 

One of the things that can hold us back from immediately putting our talent to work is a fixation on what the work should be. The hindering thoughts can sound like, “Would people respond well to this ability/resource?” “Am I really good at this fill in the blank?” “There are so many other people better than me at fill in the blank.” “What if I invest in this thing and nothing comes of it?” I’m sure there’s more that can be listed, but do these sound familiar so far? 

Notice something. The parable says nothing about exactly what these two people did to put it “to work”. It simply says: “The man who had received five bags of talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.” Matthew 25:16 What kind of work? There’s no mention of it. Yes, there’s a monetary investment that God mentions later in Matthew 25:27, but what kind of investment? And perhaps God was saying to the lazy 1 talent person, ‘at the very least, a bank investment could have been made’. Are we too wrapped up in the overthinking process of what exactly we should do with our talents? Yes, we should think about things and make wise decisions, but we should also make something happen for God. No more analysis paralysis.

Now let’s look at the contrast. The person with 1 ability hid what he was given and produced nothing. Why is that? “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talents in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” Matthew 15:24-25 He saw God as tough to please and the work hard to accomplish, so he chose to do nothing and gave back what he was gifted by God. This is tragic. 

Question: “Am I letting fear cause me to return back to God what he gave me?” “Am I a running Jonah?” [Jonah 1:1-3] “Am I willing to disappoint God to stay “safe”?”

How awesome is it when we actually put what we learn from this parable into practice! When we immediately use what God has given us and put them to work for him, not only does it bear fruit, this is what God says:

“Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:21

Yes! I want to be with God in happiness, don’t you! How exciting is this! Obedience to this passage makes God happy. Let’s immediately put our talents/gold to work. Like little children, let’s go back to God and show him the fruit of our labor, big or small. Let’s enjoy our Dad as his face lights up with joy from our hard work–work that we did for HIM.

Reference: Matthew 25:14-27