Double Your Talent

Matthew 25:14-18 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”
 
THE word “talents” refers to a weight of money, usually measured in gold or silver. The master left with three servants about $5000, $2000 and $1000. The master’s command, “Take good care of things.” is a wealthy man saying to his servants, “I’m leaving you with considerable sums from my property. You are my trusted servants, and I command you to use my property in the same way I would use it until I return.”
   Jesus is the Master. He was about to leave his disciples with the most precious of all treasures – his saving death, resurrection and ascension. And with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9b) We cannot truly know the immeasurable cost of his broken body and shed blood to redeem our souls.
   With this and similar parables, the Master commanded his disciples to hold his property – his salvation – in high value. Our great purpose is to be confident of the gospel and use it wisely to multiply his saving treasure. We must know the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19a) is a growth command. Jesus’ disciples must be diligent to respond daily into Jesus’ urgent teaching. As they wisely managed his treasure, the Kingdom would grow until he comes again. History tells us the disciples obeyed. They learned and lived Jesus’ gospel to prepare the world for his return.
   Are you as the first two servants or the third? The first two doubled their master’s money. The third used his master’s talents to fill a hole. We could say that the third servant was being safe with his responsibility, and we would be correct. He put it in a place to protect all he had been given until his master returned. What could be wrong with that? Perhaps the servant was being a wise saver from his point-of-view.
   But his self-view is the problem. The Bible plainly teaches each of us has been given certain gifts – also called talents – to be Kingdom currency to grow Jesus’ treasure. But sadly, too many of us put our talents in a spiritual hole. We don’t want to risk using them because someone might criticize us or even ignore us. We may find using our gifts is too much work and too much risk for our own comfort.
          The truth is, of course, Jesus doesn’t call us to comfort. He commands us to use his treasure, so the Kingdom will increase. What would happen if each one of us “doubled our talents” by  helping to bring one person to faith in Christ?