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!

Etching of the Parable of the Talents from the Bowyer Bible

The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) points out something that might trouble many of us.

There are no excuses.

In this parable, the master goes away on a journey and leaves three servants an amount of money (or talents as it is written) “each according to his ability.” (Matthew 25:15) Two made good profits with what they were given while one hid his money.

The one that buried his talent is a reflection of so many in the church:

• Many do not participate because they don’t have a certain skill.
• Many don’t participate because they don’t have much to offer.
• Many don’t participate because they are afraid to mess up.

Rather than take what he had and try to make more (because everyone has to start somewhere,) the one talent guy played the victim and was a non-starter.

Just Start

The two that made good use of the master’s money doubled it according the text. (Matthew 25:20, 22) If these were good economic times where they could make a 12% annual return, it would still have taken six years to double the money.

That’s a long time.

That means the one talent servant presumably sat around for a long time and did nothing.

The correct approach for him would have been to take what he had and grow it. Start out with safe actions. Begin with the basics. Even that will cause growth.

Then keep going

No matter where we are in our Christian walk, there is more to do and there are more needs. The requirement to grow what the Master has entrusted us with is still with us. He doesn’t expect us all to be five talent servants, but he expects our best efforts.

Two things:

1. We have all been entrusted with some amount of wealth and ability.
2. One of our primary responsibilities as those in the Lord’s church is to seek and save the lost (cf. Luke 19:10).

Just as the master expected return on his investment in Jesus’ parable (Luke 19:11-27), the Lord will want account from us when we meet Him. Whatever you have, strive to be a good steward of it and use it in God’s service.