My Daily Pause

Etching of the Parable of the Talents from the Bowyer Bible

In a previous article about the “One Talent Servant,” we looked at the excuses the servant made to explain how he failed his master. Based on the lessons learned from The Parable of the Talents, (Matthew 25:14-30) we come to understand that we can get lost in a sea of excuses and never really see the problem.

What are the root causes of the one talent servant’s failure?

It was not because of the workload or reward potential. The key to this passage is that each servant was given “according to his ability.” (Matthew 25:15) When the accounting time came, the five talent and two talent servants were rewarded equally.

The amount they were given and the amount they returned did not come into play, because they tried their best.

God only expects from us what we are equipped to handle at any given time.

But he also expects us to get to work with whatever we have!

We can quickly examine the attitude of the one talent servant and see at least three problems:

• He had a low opinion of the master – The servant had no love or understanding of what the master planned
• He did not believe the master was fair – Why should he have gotten only one talent to manage?
• He was lazy – He didn’t even look into some very safe uses for the money

That laziness is one that can sneak up on a person. It is a very scary thought to realize that when he (Christ) comes, the lazy will be cast out, not because they did not believe, or because they had rebelled, but because they had neglected their opportunities.

For the Christian expecting the return of the Master, it is a good idea to take a little inventory.

What do I have?

What can I do?

Am I using these things as well as I can for the Master?

Am I making “one talent” excuses?

When we can answer those questions honestly, we can begin converting ourselves from a “one talent servant” into a two talent servant!