The
parable of the talents in Matthew 25 has always disturbed me a little bit.
Perhaps it’s the accountant in me who says, “When you’re handling someone else’s
money you have to be extra careful.” I certainly agree with the statement that
the servant should have at least invested the money to earn a little interest
(though at today’s bank interest rates it’s hardly worth it!). But I’m not one
to take a lot of risk in hopes of getting a good return on investment.
As
I read the story again this week, it became clear to me that Jesus wasn’t
talking so much about money or abilities, but about faith. The first two
servants in the parable showed evidence of faith. They trusted that their
master had confidence in them. They believed that he would not condemn them for
taking a risk, even if it didn’t pay off. They weren’t afraid of the
consequences. But the third servant lived in fear instead of faith. He was
afraid of the master and he feared what might happen if he lost the money
entrusted to him. His fears ruled his decisions because he lacked faith. He
probably thought he was doing his job by protecting the master’s resources, but
he missed out on the commendation the others received: “Well done, good and
faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over
much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
That
is where the rubber meets the road. We may think we’re doing well in handling
the resources and gifts entrusted to us, but we can do that without actually
exercising much faith. There are plenty of unbelievers who are running large
companies through human ingenuity. Believers are called to a higher standard.
Certainly knowledge and ability are required, but so is faith. We can pray for
guidance from the only One who knows all things. We can trust that God will
accomplish His purposes through us. And we can believe that He will reward
those who diligently seek to do our best for Him.
Andrew
Murray wrote a challenging little book called Living a Prayerful Life. He points out that prayer is impossible except for
the grace of God.
“What folly to think that all other blessings must come from Him, but that prayer, on which everything else depends, must be obtained by personal effort! …He only asks that I, with childlike confidence, wait upon Him and glorify Him… Learn from our Lord Jesus how impossible it is to walk with God, obtain God’s blessing or leading, or do His work joyously and fruitfully apart from close, unbroken fellowship with the One who is our living fountain of spiritual life and power… Our first work, therefore, ought to be to come into God’s presence not with our ignorant prayers, not with many words and thoughts, but in the confidence that the divine work of the Holy Spirit is being carried out within us.”
To
be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us requires that we be in
close communion with Him. That is what enables us to take risks, knowing that
God knows far more than we do. It only looks like a risk from our limited human
perspective. The better we know our Father, the more we can trust that He will
be pleased with us, even if things don’t turn out quite like we expect. The
more we exercise faith in Him, the more faith we’ll have to exercise in the
future. But if we rely on our own understanding, the less we’ll trust in our
good Father. That’s what I think Jesus was getting at when He said, “For to
everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from
the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29 ESV). The
final judgment is not about how many talents you have to give Him, but about
whether you know heart of the Master who gave them to you.
“Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your
ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
