UNDERSTANDING TALENTS
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Lord:
For me the key to understand things is to find out what the basic definition of it is first before making a conclusion or a judgment about it. Today we throw around various definitions of things. If we don't like the meaning of something we will simply try to change the meaning of it to fit what we want it to mean. That is a very dangerous thing to do, and it shows a very arrogant side of the human condition toward control that is often used against us.
In the last blog I wrote something about the BUT'S found in Proverbs from Solomon, and how the choice we make are the only real freedoms we have. Here I want to explore that concept of choice a bit further for us because God really starts to beat on this subject hard in all that He tells us throughout the parables of Jesus. The Talents parable is found in Matthew 25:14-30 and it can be one of those very important choices made by us in life.
The fact alone that in understanding well enough to make a wise choice about this we need to settle on what these things called "Talents" are. While most consider them to be money of some kind I think we need to rethink them to include anything that we can use to barter with in life. This would include a physical talent, or time spent to labor. It may even be information or knowledge we have about something that can be valuable to someone else. In other words it can become anything that we can use as a life currency.
If we can see this definition clearly we can also begin to understand the parable itself more clearly. The Lord of Master has given these servants "Talents" according to their abilities...that means to me that from the very opening gate on this the measure of ability and the value of the abilities given was never the same and so what is described as being fair in today's world of Political correctness was never in play. The real world of the stronger surviving and the weaker dying is still in effect which makes the need for wise choices even more important. The choice is in how we invest these things that are given to us. There is a great tendency for us to want to curl up in a little ball and let the world go by...hoping that by some chance the bad things that could happen never find us. The sad truth is that by trying to save our small insignificant lives we will very likely loose them to predators that are looking for an easy mark. It becomes the ways we attempt to spend the "talents" we are given that matters the most. What really does interest me is the fact that with the smallest amount that we feel we have to give when it is invested in God it never seems to run out...at least not completely. The widows mite, the little boy with five loves and two fish, and you are likely to see a great measure of return on your investment when you make the choice to invest in God. The other part of this is in who's talents this was in the first place, because at some point the Master will return to claim the results of your choices.
You see friends this becomes the critical point of understanding why God will do what He has done in these parables ( which seems to be so unfair) which is to give more to those who have shown good judgment and choice, and to take a way from those who have tried to save that little bit by hiding it away. We cannot keep God happy by shining the one talent we have up and then hiding it away. The condition of a coin may be impressive to look at but it does not increase it's value. As we spend the little that we do have God always provides for us to still have enough to survive, and I think that is a very important thing to realize. As we spend or invest in God in our lives we will continue to be asked to invest more than we think we have not realizing that we may have invested two or three times what we started with already; never realizing that God has been adding to us all the time, and that the quality has been also increased. You see friends it is not what we have to put into our life in Christ, but what God has determined to grow through our choices of investment in Christ. What are you doing right now with what God has placed in your hands? I hope you have a better understanding of what that may be now...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
For me the key to understand things is to find out what the basic definition of it is first before making a conclusion or a judgment about it. Today we throw around various definitions of things. If we don't like the meaning of something we will simply try to change the meaning of it to fit what we want it to mean. That is a very dangerous thing to do, and it shows a very arrogant side of the human condition toward control that is often used against us.
In the last blog I wrote something about the BUT'S found in Proverbs from Solomon, and how the choice we make are the only real freedoms we have. Here I want to explore that concept of choice a bit further for us because God really starts to beat on this subject hard in all that He tells us throughout the parables of Jesus. The Talents parable is found in Matthew 25:14-30 and it can be one of those very important choices made by us in life.
The fact alone that in understanding well enough to make a wise choice about this we need to settle on what these things called "Talents" are. While most consider them to be money of some kind I think we need to rethink them to include anything that we can use to barter with in life. This would include a physical talent, or time spent to labor. It may even be information or knowledge we have about something that can be valuable to someone else. In other words it can become anything that we can use as a life currency.
If we can see this definition clearly we can also begin to understand the parable itself more clearly. The Lord of Master has given these servants "Talents" according to their abilities...that means to me that from the very opening gate on this the measure of ability and the value of the abilities given was never the same and so what is described as being fair in today's world of Political correctness was never in play. The real world of the stronger surviving and the weaker dying is still in effect which makes the need for wise choices even more important. The choice is in how we invest these things that are given to us. There is a great tendency for us to want to curl up in a little ball and let the world go by...hoping that by some chance the bad things that could happen never find us. The sad truth is that by trying to save our small insignificant lives we will very likely loose them to predators that are looking for an easy mark. It becomes the ways we attempt to spend the "talents" we are given that matters the most. What really does interest me is the fact that with the smallest amount that we feel we have to give when it is invested in God it never seems to run out...at least not completely. The widows mite, the little boy with five loves and two fish, and you are likely to see a great measure of return on your investment when you make the choice to invest in God. The other part of this is in who's talents this was in the first place, because at some point the Master will return to claim the results of your choices.
You see friends this becomes the critical point of understanding why God will do what He has done in these parables ( which seems to be so unfair) which is to give more to those who have shown good judgment and choice, and to take a way from those who have tried to save that little bit by hiding it away. We cannot keep God happy by shining the one talent we have up and then hiding it away. The condition of a coin may be impressive to look at but it does not increase it's value. As we spend the little that we do have God always provides for us to still have enough to survive, and I think that is a very important thing to realize. As we spend or invest in God in our lives we will continue to be asked to invest more than we think we have not realizing that we may have invested two or three times what we started with already; never realizing that God has been adding to us all the time, and that the quality has been also increased. You see friends it is not what we have to put into our life in Christ, but what God has determined to grow through our choices of investment in Christ. What are you doing right now with what God has placed in your hands? I hope you have a better understanding of what that may be now...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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