Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Matthew 25:14-30
Set – Matthew 24-25
Go! – Matthew 23-25
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus: 14 This is how it will be. It will be like a landowner who is going on a trip. He instructed his slaves about caring for his property. 15 He gave five talents to one slave, two to the next, and then one talent to the last slave—each according to his ability. Then the man left.
16 Promptly the man who had been given five talents went out and bartered and sold and turned his five talents into ten. 17 And the one who had received two talents went to the market and turned his two into four. 18 And the slave who had received just one talent? He dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money there.
19 Eventually the master came back from his travels, found his slaves, and settled up with them. 20 The slave who had been given five talents came forward and told his master how he’d turned five into ten; then he handed the whole lot over to his master.
Master: 21 Excellent. You’ve proved yourself not only clever but loyal. You’ve executed a rather small task masterfully, so now I am going to put you in charge of something larger. But before you go back to work, come join my great feast and celebration.
22 Then the slave who had been given two talents came forward and told his master how he’d turned two into four, and he handed all four talents to his master.
Master: 23 Excellent. You’ve proved yourself not only clever but loyal. You’ve executed a rather small task masterfully, so now I am going to put you in charge of something larger. But before you go back to work, come join my great feast and celebration.
24 Finally the man who had been given one talent came forward.
Servant: Master, I know you are a hard man, difficult in every way. You can make a healthy sum when others would fail. You profit when other people are doing the work. You grow rich on the backs of others. 25 So I was afraid, dug a hole, and hid the talent in the ground. Here it is. You can have it.
26 The master was furious.
Master: You are a pathetic excuse for a servant! You have disproved my trust in you and squandered my generosity. You know I always make a profit! 27 You could have at least put this talent in the bank; then I could have earned a little interest on it! 28 Take that one talent away, and give it to the servant who doubled my money from five to ten.
29 You see, everything was taken away from the man who had nothing, but the man who had something got even more. 30 And as for the slave who made no profit but buried his talent in the ground? His master ordered his slaves to tie him up and throw him outside into the utter darkness where there is miserable mourning and great fear.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
You can interpret the parable I gave that day many ways. Some will think the master cruel for the way he treated the one who did not multiply the talent he intrusted to him. Some will look at the parable as an encouragement toward capitalism and an indictment of socialism. Some will think the master unfair in giving the unused talent to the one who had ten and think it should go to the one with four so he could have a better chance of gain.
None of those interpretations are right. You see, the master cares about working within the servants’ capabilities. That’s all. He gave each of his servants talents within their specific capability to handle and multiply their means. He expected them to use what he gave them to do just that. Two of the three worked hard and did what he expected. The third, lazy servant, did nothing. He buried the talent and let it lay dormant in the ground.
And why did he give the extra talent to the one who already had ten? Because he knew it was easier for the one with ten to add a single talent to his portfolio and manage it than for the one who had four to add one to his. He knew the people who worked for him. He knew their skills and gave them what they could handle. Unfortunately, the one who could handle the single talent failed to do what he could and just sat by doing nothing.
I never expect you to just sit around and do nothing. I always have a task for you. Sometimes it requires some waiting for things to happen around you, but seldom does that mean you are idle in the process of waiting. Even in waiting, I expect you to be busy doing good for others. I never expect you to just sit by and watch the grass grow and the clouds drift by. My children never retire. I may change their tasks from time to time, but they never retire from My service.
So take a few lessons from the story. Don’t find yourself in the place of the servant with one talent. He wasn’t condemned for the fact that he had only one talent. He found himself condemned because he failed to use the one talent I had given him. Use what I give you for My glory. It will multiply. Never retire. Never quit. Never sit on the side lines. I have work for you to do. Get up and get at it.
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