Have you ever heard the phrase, “ Don’t let Him catch you with your work undone” ?
In Matthew 25:13-30 we can find the parable of the men with the talents. A man with much is leaving town for a while and he leaves some his wealth with three of his servants. To one servant he gives five talents, to the next two talents, to the last one talent, each man according to his several abilities. The man given five talents, invests his talents and earns five more talents, the same with the man with the two talents. The man with the one talent chooses to find some earth and dig a hole to bury his talent in. The master comes home and commends the servants that have doubled the income given them and blesses them with more as a reward for their faithfulness. When the master discovers that the man with one talent did nothing with what was given him, he calls him wicked and slothful. The master takes his talent and gives it to the man that now has ten talents. The slothful servant is "cast into outer darkness."
This parable is both a cautionary tale and a tale of encouragement. It’s often been taught to me as a cautionary tale, "Don't be the man who misused his talents by not using them at all". We don’t want to be in this situation where God has given us work to do, and instead of doing it, we hide the work, hide our talents, hide our gifts, under fear, procrastination and plain ole laziness. We don't want to be unprepared when Christ returns for His church.
God will give to someone else what you have so willfully neglected and He will do so unapologetically. This is a very clear example of God being a just God. The master had given this man time and opportunity, he chose to misuse it and he paid the price. Don’t be like the man with the one talent.
Be the man with the five talents, the man with two talents and while their example is the one we aim to replicate, I want to take a moment and acknowledge how purposeful God is.
This could have been a one talent, five talent story, but God is explicit in how He gave all three men the same task and adjusted it according to their capabilities.
God has given us tasks according to our ability complete them.
God has given you talent(s) because He has imparted within you the ability, capability, intelligence, strength, courage and wisdom for you to complete the work.
And, He has strategically placed examples around you similar to what He wants you to achieve. The man with two talents and the man with five talents were fruitful because they were faithful to what their master assigned to them. They both increased what was given to them.
The Bible is our blueprint. It is the example we follow to increase the talent God has given us. He has given us these examples before us to show that the task He requires is not impossible.
We just have to make the decision to follow through.
