I’ve been in the church for most of my life, so I must have heard the Parable of the Talents a million times by now. If it’s new to you, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version of the story.
A master (who represents God) sets out on a long journey and puts three servants (who represent you and me) in charge of his estate of eight talents. A talent was a unit of measurement of about 80 pounds of silver or gold. Some think it may have been the equivalent of a million dollars in today’s currency – that’s a lot of Benjamins. So an estate of eight talents was kind of a big deal.
To one servant, the master gave five talents. To another, he gave two talents. And to the third, he gave one talent. Each of the men was given a talent according to their specific skills and ability.
Because even one talent would have been the equivalent of a million dollars, I can completely understand the third man’s decision on what he decided to do with the talent that he was given.
While the first man put his five talents to work and doubled his money, as did the second man who did the same, the third man was too worried about how to use the talent that he had been given.
So he decided to bury it in the ground where it would be safe.
The third man knew that if his talent was buried, it wouldn’t have the opportunity to multiply. But it also meant that he wouldn’t misuse what he was given, and that’s what mattered more to him.
When the master returned, he was pleased with the first two men.
They each doubled what they had been given and were invited to celebrate with the master. But the third man was called wicked and lazy for not even putting the talent in the bank to earn interest. I’m pretty sure I remember something about gnashing of teeth. It didn’t end well for that guy.
While the word talent refers to a large sum of money, I think talent really refers to the gifts that we’ve been given here on Earth. When I think about the parable, a few things jump out at me.
We’re not created equally.
When it comes to gifts, we’re not created equally. Some people have a gift of leadership while others are good worker bees. Some have a talent for speaking while others prefer to write. While we can feel sorry for the third man who was only given one talent compared to the other two men, we need to change our focus and stop comparing our abilities to other people’s. Because we’re not measured against what we’re given, we’re measured by what we do with what we’ve been given.
The master didn’t give specific instructions.
The master never really instructed the men to do anything specific with the talents that they were given. He didn’t tell them to go out and multiply their talents. But he also didn’t tell them to preserve their talents or warn the men not to lose what they were given. He just gave them the talents and stepped away to see what they would do with them. I think a lot of the time, we know what our unique gifts are, but we’re waiting around for specific instructions on how to use them. Maybe there are no instructions. Maybe the master is just waiting to see what we’re going to do with our talents.
You have a responsibility to do something with your talent.
Recognizing that you have a talent isn’t enough, you have a responsibility to do something with it. Using your talent may feel risky, but a life without risk isn’t much of a life at all. If you’ve decided to bury your talent, you’re not only robbing yourself of doing what you may have been called to do, but you’re also robbing the world of the blessings that your gifts would have given them, too.
For far too long, I’ve been the third man. I’ve looked at what others have and wished many times that I was them. And because I didn’t have their gifts, I decided to dismiss and bury my own.
But we’ve all been given exactly what we need to follow our calling. We’re not created equally when it comes to gifts and talents, and that’s a good thing. We need to realize that there are no instructions. It’s up to us to discover our talents and use them for good. When we get nervous about doubling down and using our talents, we need to remember that obedience bears fruit.
There are lots of people who will tell us what we’re supposed to do and who we’re supposed to be.
If you let them, they can talk you into doing just about anything other than the very thing that you were meant to do. The challenge is discovering what that purpose is and doing something about it.
You were created for a purpose. It’s time to dig up your talent and find the courage to act on it.