Using What God Has Given You

Using What GOD Has Given Us

The parabale of the talents is a prable about how god will judge the world and his people. It talks about a situation that was common in the time of Jesus and is still common today. A man who was leaving on a trip leaves his servants with different thing to take care of. They are to make sure that they are not damaged or stolen and things of that sort, make sure that if continues to work for the man. That is continues to be profitable while he is away. Two of the servants double the investment they are left to take care of , the third gains nothing from his for the man, in fact he doesn’t even try because he is afraid, and wo what he was entrusted with is taken away from him and he is told to leave the house, in other words he was fired.

The question is what lesson does this story have for us. It is commonly interpreted as a message to work hard developing the gifts and talents that god have given us, and if you aren’t productive with what God has given you, you will lose it. This however is not entirely true.

It is true that God wants us to use his gifts to multiply and to benefit his Kingdom but it is not true that we are judged according to the quantity of or work nor the quality of that work. As Paul has written it is by grace through faith, that we are saved, not by works lest any man boast. If we say that the Parable of the talents is not talking about developing the gifts that we have been given and to say that it is only speaking of how productive we are for God, then have missed what is so good about the Christan life, we miss the good news of Jesus and will end up like the servant who failed to invest the talent, we will end up being afraid and worried about how well we will do, and whethere or not it will please God.

The parable of the talents is not a lesson on ability or productivit. It is a lesson about moral quality the faith and attitude we should have. Let’s look and the servant who buried his talent.When he was asked to give an accounting of what he has done with his talent what does he say. "Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed

and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own"

Here is the problem the judgement that falls upon him, was not because he had failed to produce wealth for his master, but because he was afraid to try. But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

There is no sin in failure. There is only sin in not attempting or in not listening to God and striving to do his will.

The man was afraid and because of that he did not try. This is the basis on which he was judged. And this is the is also the basis that Christians will be judged.You knew that I harvest where I have not sown. You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have at least got interest. But you did nothing. You were afraid you tried to absolve yourself of your responsibility by burying your talent. You knew but you did nothing you didn’t even try. This is what the master said to his servant. So my guestion to you is, is this what you want you master to say to you. If not I suggest that each of you use your gifts to do God’s will. How many times have you heard the saying it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. This is a statement that we should always remember for oursleves when we look at both the gifts and the problems we have.

But often times we don’t remember this statement when it comes to our own lives. We focus on the fact that we may fail and refuse to try, we forget that God is not concerned with the quanity of the harvest but whether or not a crop has been planted. The man in the parable was not just someone who failed to invest a item of vaule, but was also someone who tried to disown any liability for it. He followed the pattern of the times the pattern that said if you where given something of vaule you could absolve responibility for it by burying it. This has lead to some delightful finds years later by archaeologists, but will not work for us as it did not work for the man in the parable.