Gospel Message Day 29

Developing Our Talents, Part 2

In the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, there is the parable of the talents. You can watch the video of it, or read my summary: a man has 3 servants. He gives one 5 talents, one 2 talents, and one 1 talent--"to every man according to his several ability" (v.15). The man with 5 uses them and gains 5 more. The man with 2 uses them and gains 2 more. But the man with one buries it and has no increase. Not only that, when the lord returns, he praises the first two men and makes them ruler over many things. But the lord takes the 3rd man's one talent and gives it to the first man.

For me, this has some of the most obvious lessons in a parable. We receive talents; we are to use them; when we use them they will be increased and we will be greatly blessed. If we don't use them, they will be taken from us and we will not receive the blessings we could have. Some people are given more talents than others. But we are to remember that they are given according to our abilities. Not that one person is better than another and should have more. One person's situation in life may allow them to work with more at that time. Some talents may take more time to work on and develop, and thus the person with that talent may only need just a few more. I don't know what the Lord's reasons are for who gets what talents and how many of them. They are the Lord's reasons and not my concern. All I need be concerned with is what the Lord has given me and what I do with that. I need to know what mine are, focus on and develop them, and use them to serve others. But most importantly, I can't bury any of my talents or I will lose them.