During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ employed several illustrations to drive home His message; in fact, it is stated in one of the scriptures that He never preached without telling one of these parables. He did it in order to make the message clear. He uses what people know to teach them what they don’t know. He was a straightforward preacher. One of these illustrations was the parable of the talents.

A man traveling to a distant land handed his servants talents to invest while he was gone. Of course, this master represents God and the talents represent gifts He has bestowed upon each of us. God places such deposits in us because of what He intends to accomplish in and through our lives. The Bible emphasizes that this deposit in our life is a loan from God; it’s not truly ours in the true sense. It means that whatever God has given you is to be used to serve Him and humanity.

The master decided to give the first servant five talents, the second servant two talents and the last servant one talent. God [the master] would have given them the same amount but in His wisdom, He opted to distribute the talents in that proportion based on their capacities. One thing we must understand is that we are all gifted differently. All you have to do is discover your area of giftedness, develop yourself to the fullest and maximize what God has given you in order to bring glory and honour to Him. Never compare yourself to anyone else since doing so will only lead to depression.

In 1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 11, we see that, “ …God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all.  There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.¹ It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have” [TLB].  What skill a person is given is determined by God. You will spend the rest of your life in misery and gloom if you can’t learn to be happy with the skill God has given you.  God desires that you prosper from what He has given you; verse 12 of our text says, “ Our bodies have many parts, but the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together.”

Because there is so much that God wants to do in the world and no one individual is capable of doing it all, God has given each of us unique gifts. He so bestows these gifts on every one of us so that we can contribute in our own unique ways to the accomplishment of His plan. Just as no part of the body is more important than any other, neither person’s gift is more significant than another’s. All gifts are of equal value.

One of the greatest tragedies confronting the church today is the presence of people who have been in the church for a long time but have refused to serve in the grace God has bestowed upon them. As a result, the church is suffering. The handful who are using their abilities and gifts to serve are nearly exhausted. So, if you’ve been in this church for months and haven’t realized that God hasn’t called you here just to be a “seat warmer” but that He has something in you that He wants you to use to further His purpose through this church, you might want to think again.

Nobody is permitted to just sit and suck in what others are contributing; you must make your own contributions or the church will suffer as a result. Some of us are just interested in God’s benefits and are unwilling to serve Him with our gifts. When you ask God to bless you while you are not ready to serve Him, you are essentially asking Him to bless you so that you would have more strength to serve the devil! Living in the light of God’s word and doing what He wants of you in any situation is the key to blessing in the midst of all that is going on in the world today.

It is up to you and I to find out the gifts that God has bestowed on us and use it for His glory and honour. Consider this: How can I use what I have been given to enrich lives in the church and in society? God brought you into the experiences and training that you’ve had because of this. Life is not about primitive accumulation of wealth but serving God and serving others is the purpose of life.

We can infer from the story of the talents that the master wanted everyone to whom he loaned [gave talents] maximize their profits for him. God is progress-oriented. When Christians make progress, it brings honour and glory to God.  In fact, it makes the gospel more appealing. God wants to profit from the gifts He has bestowed upon us. That is why, after we are born again, He does not take us right away to heaven; He keeps us here on earth to utilize our abilities and talents to help humanity and win souls for Him since this is the ministry closest to His heart. The servant with the one talent grieved the heart of his master when he said he didn’t want the master to profit from the talent. In essence, if you use what God has given you prudently, He will give you more.

The resources required to carry out the tasks God gives you, vary according to the nature of the assignment. You may notice that those who are called to perform particular tasks have supplies that you may never have, no matter how much you pray; not because God is unjust, but because the assignment He has given you does not require that to complete it.  In the book of Numbers 7: 1 – 9, 7,  “Moses anointed and sanctified each part of the Tabernacle, including the altar and its utensils, on the day he finished setting it up. Then the leaders of Israel—the chiefs of the tribes, the men who had organized the census—brought their offerings. brought six covered wagons, each drawn by two oxen—a wagon for every two leaders and an ox for each one; and they presented them to the Lord in front of the Tabernacle. So Moses presented the wagons and the oxen to the Levites.  Two wagons and four oxen were given to the Gershon division for their use, and four wagons and eight oxen were given to the Merari division, which was under the leadership of Ithamar, Aaron’s son.  None of the wagons or teams was given to the Kohath division, for they were required to carry their portion of the Tabernacle upon their shoulders” [TLB].

There will be a day of reckoning. Jesus will return someday or we may die and meet Him; just like the master, in our text, returned at some point and required the servants to account for the talents he gave them. Will you employ your gift well, as did the first and second servants or will you be like the third? God does not want anyone to have any reason to be idle in church or in life generally. He has placed you in a position to participate actively in the church, in your family and society at large. Just don’t be a liability by consuming or complaining about how others aren’t doing this or that. What value do you bring to the table? Are you merely a consumer? God also wants you to be a contributor.

The basis for the judgment would be faithfulness rather than the size of a person’s talent or gift. The Master addressed both servants who had doubled their gift with the same words: “Thou good and faithful servant.” We must make every effort to make the best of what we have. May God help us to be contributors to the glory of His name, rather than being selfish or idle in His house.

There is a reward for living this kind of life, not just here and now but also in the life thereafter. In the same way that the master honoured those servants who performed well, God will reward you for whatever service you provide. If what matters to God matters to you, He will make what matters to you matter to him.

May God grant us the ability to obey His word and to act with utmost diligence in all situations and to live lives that please Him rather than the ones that will make Him regret creating us. God does not want you to be like anybody else; he wants you to be uniquely you. Just do your best with what you have and God will reward you.