Using Our Talents

In Matthew 25. 14 - 30 we have a very familiar parable given by
Jesus. It is the scripture concerning the parable of the talents, in
which a rich man gives five talents of money to a servant, about
£600 or $US1000, and two to another servant and one to a third.
They were expected to use the money to produce more money for
for their master who would collect it when he returned.

The song written and sung by Billie Holiday enshrines an aspect of
this parable in the phrase "Them that has shall gain, Them that aint
shall lose..." This is because, while the first and second servants
return 100% accruals on their talents, the third had done nothing
with his talent and returned 0%. So the master said: "`Take the
talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken
from him..."

TALENTS AND ABILITIES

Not least because of the common meaning of "talent" in English,
this parable is usually understood in a wider sense than money,
although that is not excluded. Yet this is also central to the
context which Jesus himself sets. The servants received amounts
in proportion to the ability of each one.

So the importance of what the first two returned to their master
was not the absolute amounts of 10 talents and four talents,
but the fact that they had used their abilities to increase what
they had been given. Both actually returned 100% of what they had
been given. The ability of the first had allowed him to handle a
greater sum; the second servant, having the ability to handle only
two talents, nonetheless used that ability to bring in a 100% return.

This relationship between "talents" and "abilities" is crucial for
understanding what is required of us in our spiritual lives as
Christians. We all have abilities -- every one of us. Whether we
have more or less than someone else is unimportant to God. What is
important is how we use the abilities we have. These abilities may be
innate, having been acquired through genetic inheritances from
our parents, or they may be acquired abilites gained through, say,
the skills we pickup in employment or which are developed through
education and academic study. How we come by them does not matter.
What matters is what we do with them.

Similarly, we all receive “talents”, if we understand “talents” to mean
the opportunities we are presented with to use our abilities on.

TALENTS BEGET TALENTS

Our genetic inheritance is something we need to regard as given
and is not something we can do much about. But those abilities
themselves can be used more or less effectively to generate what
we have just called "acquired abilities". Jesus calls on us to use
the existing abilities we have in the most effective way we can. Yet
it is important to realise that we generate acquired abilities through
our efforts at work and in education and training.

USING ABILITIES AND TALENTS SPREAD THE KINGDOM

Being a Christian means doing our best, and working as effectively
as we can, in whatever activity we are engaged in. Why? Because
this is the way the kingdom of God is spread.

We are tempted sometimes to think that spreading the kingdom is
purely a matter of verbally preaching the gospel. That is
important, but the kingdom is also spread, and perhaps often more
effectively, simply by the way we live.

We are called to follow the example of Jesus. And Jesus lived
every part of his life for his Father and to fulfill his Father's
will. We are called to do no less than also to "preach" the gospel
by the way we live: seeing that the moral strands of our lives are
securely woven into the fabric of Jesus' example, but also fully
using all our abilities in all our activities. We are all given
"talents", sometimes in the form of money, but more frequently,
and every day, as the chance to develop all kinds of opportunities
and to return 100% to the Father on each one of them.

800 words approx

Article Source: http://www.christiannotepad.com

AUTHOR: Anthony Keith Whitehead WEB SITE: www.christianword.co.uk This article is copyright but may be reproduced providing that all this information is included Over twenty-three years in Christian healing teaching writing ministries. Wide range of secular employments before being called by the Lord into full time independent ministry in 1987. With his wife Iris he has ministered both in the UK and USA. Has written several books on healing meditation and various aspects of spirituality. Formal qualifications include: B.A. M.Phil. Cambridge University Certificate in Religious Studies Post Grad Cert. in Education.