Gifted

Matthew 25:14-30

         I might have told this story before but when my son was a young boy, perhaps in the third or fourth grade, we were called into the teachers office. We were told that our son scored exceptionally high in many keys areas of intelligence. Basically, he was a smart kid. The challenge is how to present this to our boy. Bright lad that he was he told us he already knew he was smart.  He said that while everyone else took notes, all he had to do is merely look at the board and he soaked it all in. He knew it that fast. What we had to explain then, sadly for him, is that more would be expected of him. He wasn't going to be allowed to rest on the fact that things came easy.  God had given him a gift (or talent) and he was to use that to fulfill whatever plan God had for him, to achieve goals that perhaps only he could reach. 

          The notation of people being given 'talens' in this passage can surely be used as a good example of what to do with the gifts God gives us. The very word talent though referred to an amount of money.  The value of a 'talent' was quite sizable, may ears wages from one reference I checked. The parable is as true today as it was then whether you are speaking of money (talents) or you are speaking about gifts or being talented at one thing or another.

            The gifts that God bestows on us is enormous. No matter what we are speaking of, God's generosity with us is incredible. So what do we do with these gifts from God?  That is the real question here and if the reading is correct, we will be held accountable for how we handle our very own personal affairs.  Whatever your talent is, God expects you to develop it to the full. I have always felt that to not do so was a real sin. Even with my first spouse who showed an aptitude for the medical field, I felt it was her duty (and mine) to support that in any way I could. If I had money that would help with a course or a specific cause, I would and I should. 

             Perhaps one of the problems of life it that we compare our gifts with the person next door, the sibling, the coworker or a total stranger. We want to give what they give. We want their talent, their gift. What we really need to be aware of, and this passage points it out pretty clearly, is that we all get different talents and we need to develop ourselves and not someone else's.  Accepting what we can give, however small, is to God a gift of monumental proportions. This point is brought home by the passage of the widow who gave two small coins in temple but which God revered more than the volumes of money given by some others that gave simply out of their excess and not out of true love.

             We are all aware of perhaps a gifted composer or violinist that  conveys the talents of their hands and mind into ecstasy for the listener. To give so graciously and freely is a true gift that God appreciates because it is letting the love flow from themselves to everyone else. Their talent flows and gives.  All our talents should be developed so they flow and give.

          I'm not sure how we may held accountable for not being the best that God made us to be or for simply not being who God made us to be. I do know that there is extreme happiness and satisfaction when you cultivate and live out the talents you are graced with. I can only imagine how unhappy it must feel to not be able to be yourself or cultivate who you are.  

          You are gift, what have you to give mankind? Your lover? Your spouse, your friends?  

14 ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; ¹⁵to one he gave five talents,^* to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. ¹⁷In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. ¹⁸But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” ²¹His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” ²²And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” ²³His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” ²⁴Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; ²⁵so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” ²⁶But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? ²⁷Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. ²⁹For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ³⁰As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”