Gifts and Talents

 

God has blessed me with talents in certain areas. The flip side is that there are other things for which I have absolutely no aptitude.  Fortunately, I have a wife who is handy around the house. I also have a good friend with a kind spirit who can seemingly fix anything.

 

Each of us has our own unique talents and abilities.  They all come from God. We have the responsibility of cultivating our talents and using them for the kingdom. This is not a recommendation; this is a responsibility. We will be called to account for how we have used the gifts that God has given us. Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-28) applies to us today.  The king gave his servants talents (a form of money at the time) before he left, in varying amounts according to their abilities. Upon his return, each servant was called to give an account of what he had done with what he was given. The king congratulated and rewarded those servants who had earned a return for him. The servant who dug a hole and hid his master’s talent was called “a wicked, lazy servant “.

 

Several points can be made about this parable. God gives each of us different talents but never more than we can handle. When we are faithful, our use of God’s gifts will always yield a return even if we are not able to see it at the time. God is the ultimate example of efficiency. Nothing of His ever goes to waste unless we misuse His gifts. God rewards the faithful servant although we must be careful to guard our hearts so that our motivation remains the furtherance of God’s kingdom and not for the rewards we may receive.

 

We also need to be careful not to become too proud of our abilities. Satan can try to bring us down not only through our weaknesses but our strengths as well. He tried to do this to Jesus in the desert when he told Jesus to turn the stones into bread, knowing that Jesus had the power to do so. Satan works on our pride to try to get us to take possession of our talents and use them for ourselves rather than God.

 

In your quiet time tonight, think about this – if God came to you today, what kind of return would you have ready for Him?