Wasted Talents, Wasted Life

Remember the Parable of the Talents? Here's a quick recap (Matt 25.14-30), if you don't need one, then just skip to the next para! A Master goes away on a trip and before he does he gives 5 talents to one servant, 2 to the second and 1 to the third. The first one traded with his talents and earned 5 more talents to add to the original 5, the second did something similar and was able to earn 2 more talents for his master. The third on the other hand, decided all this was too risky and dug a hole in the ground and buried his talents there. Well, the master returns and he is very pleased with the first two servants who used their talents so profitably, he rewards them by entrusting them with more. When the third servant walks up and explains what he did with his talent the master is less than pleased with his efforts, and says that he should have at least invested the money with the bankers so it could earn interest. His one talent is then taken from him and given to the one who now had 10 talents. Moral of the story - use your talents, and use them wisely.

This passage has been coming back to me in little snippets for a while now, so much so that I knew it was time to pass on the goodness. Sometimes I'm absolutely astounded by the amount of potential and talent I see in myself - before you start judging, read on ahead! Some background info - from as far back as I can remember, every report card of mine used to say 'Can do better' or another variation of that statement. At that time I used to get super irritated with my teachers when I saw that, as it was generally followed by a mini lecture from whoever went to get my report card on hard work etc. Now, I'm seeing that comment in a different light - my teachers saw a potential in me, talents if you will, that I obviously hadn't tapped. Maybe it was a lack of motivation, or just pure laziness - who knows! Now, when I look back and see the lengths to which my mind will go, the things I'm able to think of, the things I'm capable of, I have to agree with them - I 'Can do better'. So why haven't I? And worse still, if you look at the story, the man who didn't do anything with his talent but bury it in the ground, lost it anyway - to the guy who had more talents than him in the first place! It begs the question - what talents have I already lost? The thing is, God gave me that potential - those talents, and when He returns He's going to want an account on how I used them, how I multiplied them, and I don't want to be on the receiving end of Godly disapproval! But why look at just the potential He has given me, what about my circumstances? God has blessed me beyond belief in my life, more than I could have possibly imagined, sometimes I still can't believe how blessed I am. As a business student, from a purely worldly point of view, if I look at the blessings as a long-term 'investment' then what am I doing to maximize His returns? Of course the last statement is my very human mind thinking in very human terms, but still I hope you can appreciate the sentiment behind the statement. What am I doing for God. I can appreciate that there is nothing that I could possibly do that will ever match what He does for me, but if I didn't try to do something for Him with my every action, with every breath I take, how could I possibly live with myself? 

What about you - Everything you are able to do is because God gave you the ability to do that. From making your family's favorite breakfast in the morning to coming up with the idea that saves your family and mankind in general, it is all from God. How much of that talent are you investing for Him? 

Matthew 25:14-30

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’