What Will You Do?

“He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.”
Matthew 25:15 NLT

The Parable of the Talents has been one of my favorite parables for a long time. Jesus tells a story about a master who gives his servants a set amount of "talents," each talent being a very large sum of money.

What’s interesting in this story is that Jesus clearly points out that the master distributes these talents according to each servant’s ability to manage them… and then he leaves.

What we read and understand is that these servants are expected to multiply what has been given to them. The master doesn’t provide a detailed plan for how to do it, yet he trusts their capabilities because of his relationship with them. Again, he gives to them according to their ability.

Two of the three servants begin working immediately! Five talents become ten. Two talents become four. They are doing exactly what was expected of them.

The third servant? Well, the Bible tells us that he dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. (v.18)

After a long time, the master returns and calls his servants to account for what they have done while he was away. He looks at the two who multiplied their talents and says: “Well done, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with little—now you will be faithful with much!”

Then he turns to the third servant, who simply returns what was given to him—along with excuses for why he did nothing with it. The master’s response is drastically different: “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew…”

By the end of this encounter, the master takes away the one talent from the unfaithful servant and gives it to the one who has ten.

Lessons from the Master’s Response:

1. It Was Never About the Amount.
   The master looked at the servant with ten talents and still referred to it as faithfulness with “little” (v.21). The sum of money in that servant’s possession was more than an average family would earn in a lifetime!

2. He Was Making Excuses.
   If the servant truly believed his master was a harsh man (v.24), his response should have been different. The reality? He wasn’t given more simply because he couldn’t be trusted with more.

3. He Had the Opportunity to Do Better.
   When we read that the master gave “according to their ability,” we might wonder: If the master knew he couldn’t handle more, why is he being punished? At first, that seems like a fair question—but we forget that this servant was doing life alongside the others. All he had to do was ask for help from those who were working faithfully. Whether it was pride, fear, or simple disobedience, the third servant missed out on an opportunity to grow and be found faithful with what he had been given. Instead, he lost it.

What About You?

This brings us to an important question: What will you do with what has been given to you?

This isn’t just about financial resources—it applies to every area of your life.

Jesus has entrusted you with many "talents"—treasures of great value. What are you doing with them? My prayer is that you will be found faithful.

The greatest gift you can give Jesus is the life He has already given you. If you haven’t made that decision yet, today would be a great day!

A Prayer:

Jesus, I thank You for Your goodness and kindness toward me. You have been so generous with all that You have given—including Your very life so that I could have a relationship with You. Help me to steward well all that You’ve entrusted to me—my finances, my relationships, my work, and my family. Help me to multiply what You have given so that I, too, can hear You say, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant!’

In Your name, I pray, Amen!