Talents

This mornings Bible reading was the 25th chapter of Matthew which has a few different parables to it. Although I can relate all of them to my life the one that stuck out today was the one between vs. 14 - 30, the parable of the talents.

It tells about a man who is about to leave on a long trip. This man calls his servants and gives them each of the an amount of Talents. The first two go out and basically invest the money and double to profits. The third however hides his in the field and is only able to return that amount back to his master. This wasn't just a coin or two.....

A talent represented a rather large sum of money. For instance, someone who possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today's standards. It is believed that a talent in this parable to be equivalent to 20 years of wages for the typical worker. Some tend to conservatively estimate the value closer to between $1,000 to $30,000 dollars today.

So when the master comes back he is happy that the others really used the talents that they were given and doubled his return. Not so with the last one who gives him his money back but he has done nothing with it except hang on to it.

At first I was thinking well ...at least he didn't spend it or invest it foolishly.....but then I looked at it in a different way. I reread it...and thought...you can also look the word "Talents" as....... well.......... Talents.

Do you have Talents that you have been given. Do you find joy in providing care, teaching or are you musically inclined? What are you doing with it? Are you sitting on it for your own benefit or are you using it.....investing in it......getting better at it.....and adding to it to be able to give it back when God returns.

I love to sing. Sometimes I worry that I don't have the notes just right or I start to fast or sing the wrong words....but I trust God is going to use it for His glory....taking my eyes off of what I have and putting it back on what I am giving back to him. I should be able to return to him 200%.