Are you using your Talents

Title: Are you using your Talents?

Scripture: And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.- Matthews 25:15

Far too many evangelical Christians today see their salvation as simply a “bus ticket to heaven.” They believe it doesn’t matter what they do while they “wait for the bus.” The Parable of the Talents teaches us what we are supposed to do while we await the return of our King.
We are to work, using our talents to glorify God, serve the common good, and further God’s kingdom. Biblical success is working diligently in the here and now using all the talents God has given us to produce the return expected by the Master.

Fear is probably the most powerful enemy of success. So many people miss opportunities to do something significant with their gifts or talents or possessions simply because they fear failure. You may have been blessed with a natural ability to sing, but much of this talent has gone to waste because you fear you’d go to pieces once you stepped on the stage. What a tragic thing it will be if you bury your God-given talent.

If fear of failure is a great enemy of success in the kingdom, laziness at least runs a close second. It probably took servant number three all of five minutes to dig a hole and bury the talent. He saved himself all the time and energy needed to think through all the investment options that were available to him. He couldn’t be bothered researching the possibility of buying a house or a piece of land at a bargain price and finding good tenants. Nor did he even have enough ambition to make a trip to the bank and take the time to decide on whether to invest the talent in a daily-interest shekel account, or a fixed-interest foreign-currency account, or whatever. This man was just plain lazy.

That’s what can easily happen to buried talents. The third servant not only didn’t achieve a profit on his master’s money; he even lost the one talent he was given to manage. This fearful and lazy manager had dug a hole, little realizing that he was digging it for himself! He didn’t realize that if he didn’t use it, he’d lose it.

Here is a summary of the lessons

First, this parable teaches us that success is a product of our work.
second the parable teaches that God always gives us everything we need to do what he has called us to do.
Third the Parable teaches that we are not all created equal.
The Parable of the Talents teaches that we work for the Master, not our own selfish purposes.
The parable teaches us that until we trade with our talent we cannot be profitable

God has given you gifts and talents. Use them.

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