LESSONS FROM THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

Reference scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 NKJV 

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

In case you are not familiar with the story, in this passage of scripture, there is a wealthy man who gives talents to three different servants: to one he gives five to the other he gives two and to one he gives one talent and then he goes away on a trip. After some time, he comes back to evaluate what his servants did with their talents. The one who had five talents was able to double his to ten, the one with two doubled his to four but the one with only one hid his in the earth and gave back his one talent to his master. The master was pleased with the ones that were able to make a profit from the talents they got, but he took the one from the one who made no gain and gave it to the one with five!  

LESSON 1: Just like the master did, I encourage you to take inventory of where you are at this point in your life. Take a look at where you are and see what has worked and what hasn’t. A lot of times we try to keep investing in things that are unproductive in our lives. Now there is a difference between persevering through a season of waiting versus just wasting time on something that is never going to change no matter how much time or resources you invest. There are clear indicators of the differences between the two; but it makes no sense to keep propping up things in your life that are unproductive. Like the master did, he took the talent from the one who made no profit and gave it to the one that doubled the five. You need to take inventory and think about investing more of your resources in those things that are profitable in your life.  

LESSON 2: For the second lesson let us examine verse 14: For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.  

Another thing we can learn from this parable is to foster an environment where we give room for others to grow. The master gave of his own goods to these servants and went away. In your own life, what or who have you made room for to grow? Are you giving people an opportunity to discover what they are capable of? If the man with the five talents was never trusted with them, who knows if he would have eventually figured out what he was capable of or even the one with the one talent came to learn he had underlying character concerns, in the very least he was slothful, in other words lazy. By the way the dictionary defines someone slothful as someone who prefers comfort and inactivity over responsibility, often procrastinating or moving slowly. At the very least, the servant with one talent according to his master preferred comfort and inactivity over responsibility and was a procrastinator. I encourage you to make room for others; it may be that both you and they will discover what’s inside them after all.  

LESSON 3: The third lesson we can learn is by taking a look at the man who hid his master’s talent in the ground in more detail. Because he hid his master's talent in the ground, he had nothing to show for it. It is interesting that the man blamed his master for his lack of productivity but his master called him slothful and wicked. What is also interesting is this servant blamed his master for his lack of productivity and yet his fellow servants given the same opportunity were able to turn a profit with the talents they were given. To make matters worse, they had more responsibility than he did. Sometimes we blame others or circumstances for our lack of progress and yet there’s people in the same exact or worse situation we are in who are successful. Could the lack of productivity in your own life be due to the fact that you prefer comfort and inactivity over responsibility, you’re a procrastinator and move slowly? That’s the definition of slothfulness. This is just another opportunity for you to take a close look at the areas in your life that are unproductive and find out why.  

LESSON 4: Still examining the slothful servant, is there a possibility that maybe sometimes you overestimate your own capabilities. There is a reason why the master gave one servant five talents and the other one. Verse 15 of our reference scripture says the master distributed the talents according to ability. Do you know your own strengths and weaknesses? The master knew and he distributed accordingly. Being given the one talent was prelude to so many other things; one end it did expose the servant as being slothful, something he may have not been aware of according to his response when the master was talking to him about his lack or results but it also shows that even though the master knew he was not as able as the one with the five talents, he did expect some kind of a return from the one talent. In other words, something maybe a weak area in your life, but in the kingdom of God, even those weak points can be turned into a profit with a little effort. I see it as an opportunity to prove to yourself and those in charge of you that you can get better. The master had hope in his servant of doing something with this talent. Whatever God has entrusted to you, you can always make a profit if you will just ask Him to show you how. 

LESSON 5: For the fourth lesson now will look at verse 14; In this parable, Jesus starts out by saying the kingdom of God is as this man, the man who distributed the talents. What he is pointing to that is key for us to be mindful of is if this man is like the kingdom of God, we need to study and learn from him on how to operate with a kingdom mindset. Another way we can operate with efficiency in the kingdom is the principle of delegation. In this parable, the master takes of his goods and gives them to three of his servants. Two were able to return a profit; One doubled five to ten and another two to four. This would have never happened if the master did not delegate some tasks. In fact, because he was able to delegate, it freed him up to go away on a journey. With delegation you can duplicate yourself even more while you yourself are freed up to accomplish other things that maybe no one else can do in the interim. Part of living a productive life involves letting go of some of your responsibilities and letting those around you carry the load. That could be something you could do to increase productivity and ensure continuity when you are gone. One of the greatest demonstrations of delegation is when Jesus left the earth and sent the Holy Spirit who is an exact representation of Himself to indwell the believer so we can accomplish God's purposes in the earth. 

So much more we can learn from this parable, but I pray that some of the points discussed will give you something to think about.