I believe when we die and go to heaven…..God will be anxiously awaiting to say these words that we find in Matthew 25:23, “…… ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'”
Heaven will be about sharing God’s happiness!
In this passage Jesus is telling a parable….parables were a great tool Jesus used to teach others. He used stories to illustrate the point or lesson he was trying to make. This particular parable is widely known as, “The Parable of the Talents”. A talent in the Bible is a form of money. Jesus tells the story of a man, better known as a Master, who had talents that were entrusted to his servants to use and develop into more talents. In this parable we see Jesus as the Master and ourselves in the role of the servants.
If you have a red print Bible, you will notice the story found in Matthew 25:14-30 is in red print denoting that it was Jesus’ specific words telling the story! He gave five talents to one servant, two to another, and one to another according to their abilities! Then the master left for a journey. The journey was symbolic of Jesus dying on the cross…going to heaven and sending the Holy Spirit to be with us. Giving us a choice to receive Jesus to be the Master of our life, thus allowing the Holy Spirit to enable us to do great things that Jesus purposed in advance for us to do……the talents and abilities! Jesus goes on to tell the “choices” each of the servants made…..
The gift of 5 talents……the servant came to his Master on his return and said, “Look I took the 5 talents and doubled it…..here are 5 more!” His Master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
The gift of the 2 talents…..the servant came to his Master and said, “You entrusted me with 2 talents, see I have doubled…here are 2 more talents.” His Master replied, “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness. ”
The gift of the 1 talent. …..The servant said to his Master….”Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” His master replied…”You wicked, lazy servant! So you KNEW that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.” He goes on to say, “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 form him. And throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
I love how Jesus uses money…to teach us! My dad has always, always taught me…when you deal with people and it involves money….you will learn all you ever want to know about that person. Now that I am 51, I understand to a deeper level what my dad meant….All people need money to live….and of course some have more money than others……but even if you have little or much money….stinginess and generosity exists among both groups of people.
Realizing that everyone needs money to survive….Jesus knew that using money in a parable would be an area where everyone could relate….I believe the deep meaning of the parable of the talents is HOW WE SPEND OUR LIFE on this earth, not just in regards to our money, even though I think that is extremely important! God has gifted each and every person….granted, even in the parable some were given more talents than others….but all were given at least one! His expectation is MAXIMIZATION! DOUBLING at the very least what we have been ENTRUSTED with.
From reading this parable….I have a HOLY fear of not doubling what I have been given…..to the point….any form of retirement is not in my vocabulary….maybe I might move slower….but retire? NOT a chance!! IN fact….I haven’t found RETIREMENT in the Bible…maybe sick and old…but retirement…..NO, I don’t think so!
God’s desire is for us to share in His glory and His happiness….He desires to GIVE US MORE, but we have to do our part….we have to maximize….and double our gifts, talents, and abilities…….not worrying about where, how, or when God chooses to scatter seed or decide to harvest….our job as the servant is to take our talents which we have been entrusted with and GET IT DONE!!! He has provided his Word (the Bible) and HIMSELF, the HOLY SPIRIT. We have all we need….IT is a choice!! Remember our life ends up being the SUM TOTAL OF OUR CHOICES….especially where we spend eternity!