TODAY’S MEDITATION – Where have you been investing the talent you received for Christ (Matthew 25:14-30

 

When we read the Parable of the Talents, the Bible tells us that EVERYONE has received something from the master. My brother, my sister, understanding that you have received a talent from God should therefore make you stop complaining about things you don’t have and appreciate what you have. Therefore, if you can’t do that, it is because you are plagued with ingratitude, which is a by-product of fear.

Some people want everything that they think they need. However, it is not everything that is necessary for us to live happily or at peace. Now, when we read the Parable of the Talents, we observe this: “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” (verses 14-15). Just like Jesus who came to the world and before He left, He set up His church that He entrusted to His disciples to look after it until He comes back, and He gave them spiritual gifts through the Spirit of God to be able to keep His commands and carry out their mission: making disciples of all nations and spreading the Good News until the ends of the earth.

Today, if you call yourself a Christian, then the Lord has already equipped you with one or more talents. But what are you doing with those talents? Indeed, because the Bible says this: “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them” (verse 19). Jesus is coming back soon and the Bible says He will no longer come as a Lamb, but as the Lion of Tribe of Juda to judge the living and the dead. This will be the time each of those who once called themselves Christians will stand before Him to settle accounts with Him: individually, we will have to tell Him what we did with the talents He gave us: time, money, work, a special ability to do something, etc.

My friend, those who invested the talents, even if it produced a little, their master was still happy with them. But, as our focus is on ingratitude, which is a true plague, let’s look at what happened to the servant who was unable to do anything with the talent he had received from his master: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours” (verses 24-25). His excuse: FEAR! My friend, are you afraid to serve the Lord? Afraid to give to the Lord? Afraid to invest what the Lord has given you in the frist place? Then read the answer of the master, because Jesus is that master: “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 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. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (verses 27-29).

Yes, ingratitude comes along with the fear of doing what is pleasing to the Lord. The servant who did not invest his talent knew what the master was able to do and what would have pleased the master, but he did not trust him to invest his talent in the way that would have pleased the master, so he rather hid it under the ground. Are you trying to hide what God has given you instead of investing it in the way that pleases Him? Many believers claim to be Christians, but do your actions say about you that you are a Christian? Where do you invest the talents that Jesus Christ has given you? Do not deceive yourself my friend: Jesus will ask you to give accounts, even if you have a short memory, He knows what He has given you. My friend, igratitude is a scourge… and the members of the Church of Christ should seek to get out of ingratitude and fear to become true worshipers who are investing in the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus’ Christ. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.