Talents, Blessings and Spiritual Gifts Part 2
The Secret Recipe
By Ereeny Mikhail
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money.”
Matthew 25:14-18
Three particular things strike me about this parable.
The first thing is the fact that they ALL received talents. He did not leave one of them with nothing. So, I think when we state that we have no talents, we are offending God. We are acting as that foolish servant who claims God to be a ‘hard man’. God gave us each according to our own ability.
Secondly, the way the servants and lord reacted to the number of talents is so important. The servant with two talents did not look at his neighbour with five talents and think about how much more than him he had. He focused on himself and went and made two more. And as we know later in the parable, the lord of the servants rewards the servant who doubled his five talents into ten, and the servant who doubled his two talents into four, equally. And the servant with the one talent ends up with nothing and is cast out. The significant thing to take from this is the lord did not look at the servants and think he only has four and the other has ten. The number of talents is not what we should be looking at and it is not how God will judge us in the coming days. Rather, it is how we utilised the talents he gave us.
Now let’s twist the story a little bit. Imagine if the servant who didn’t use his talents was the one with the five talents. And the servants who doubled their talents were the ones with the two and the one talent. The master of the house would have reacted the exact same. The servant with the five talents would have been cast out. It is in fact better for someone to have one talent but to use it and increase it than to have five talents and use none of them at all and waste them.
Finally, another message we can take from this parable is, exploration or investment. The servants with the five and two talents did not just get excited and think about how much they had. They chose to act wisely and put in the effort to increase their talents.
Think about it as an investment of money in the bank. You place the money there and over time it continues to increase. You act wisely with what you have, rather than just celebrate your talents.
More importantly, the effort these two servants put in is essential. They went and actually explored how to increase their talents. So perhaps your talents are sport and being a good speaker. This does not mean you settle for the two talents and thank God only. It is fundamental that you find ways to use these talents in more than just the one way. I think about the sportsmen or sportswomen who sign the cross before a game. This must spread waves into the world. Maybe that day someone will pray for the first time in a long time. Or if you are a good speaker, don’t just use it for your job. Use it to speak at your church or preach the name of the Lord to others. Perhaps if you feel you cannot expand on these talents, then it is essential to explore yourself more and find more talents in order to increase what the Lord gave you.
We must realise talents come in different forms. We must recognise the talents God has given us and not disregard them. We must always ensure that we do not compare our talents to others. We must ensure that we explore these talents and invest in them. This is the secret recipe to all talents, blessings and spiritual gifts.