Talents, Time & Treasure

By Esther Belin

Dear Readers,
I am honored to be a guest blogger.  I have been praying that God would direct me because I tend to complicate simple tasks.  I retreat.  I ponder.  I meditate.  All these things are wonderful to produce great writing, but my problem was that I never got around to the actual writing.  I often say that I am writing in my head – which is true – however the problem with that type of writing is it is only for me (and I rarely remember the masterpieces composed in my head).  I never used to think there was anything wrong with that until I realized God gave me the love and gift of writing to fulfill part of His will.  So here I am, a guest blogger – writing with the sole purpose of giving God the glory.  This commitment was renewed during a study on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30 NLT).

This parable is amazingly simple yet mysteriously complex which is probably the reason Jesus taught using parables.  Out of his compassion, he used examples humanity could grasp.  I laugh as I write that last sentence because I feel like I have only recently grasped the meaning!  I was familiar with the lessons of being a good steward of God’s money and possessions, but I never really thought about being a good steward of my spiritual gifts and time.  If I believe God created each person with their own unique giftings and He created time, then of course both gifts and time should be used to bring Him glory.  We limit ourselves when we hide our talents (pun intended).  But more importantly, we limit the building of God’s kingdom.

Understanding the context to stories, parables or people has deepened my Bible studies.  Because the Bible provides only minimal information about the servants and the Master, it can be easy to disassociate from the parable.  Yet because the Bible is truth, we can assume that the servants would have similar emotions/motives/responses we would.  Because the Master entrusted select servants (rather than business partners, family members or friends) with his money reveals fascinating qualities.  Did the Master not have any trustworthy business partners, family members or friends?  Or was the Master just a cool boss who was giving his employees a career opportunity?  If your boss handed over part of her/his personal fortune (a talent is like a million dollars) while s/he went on a long vacation, what would you do? 

Ultimately, what you do with the money depends on how well you know the Master.  I believe that the Master wanted to bless her/his employees and that is the reason why s/he entrusted the money accordingly – and in that sense, it was a test.  I also believe that each employee knew the Master to be kind and generous.  Two of them were challenged by this opportunity, and they accepted it because they knew their Master was kind and generous.  Did they know how to make more money?  Did they know anything about investment? Perhaps, but maybe not.  It seems the first servant had some knowledge about investment, but the second servant “went to work.”  

Our culture in the U.S. is all about the opposite of work.  As a culture, we are aware of the work ethic that founded this country, yet that ethic is very much buried by an entitlement ethic – that we deserve to be happy and wealthy with the freedom to do what we want.  In short, I had to finally position myself to go to work for God.  In order to get to that place I grieved over my past choices to work for my own ideas of happiness, wealth and freedom.  Then, I spent some time in His word trying to figure out what the will of God is for my life.  After much retreating, pondering and meditating, God whispered that I am in His will. Now I am just eager to go to work. 

The process was not easy because I had been so worried (which was a diversion from the enemy) that I was missing out; I almost lost hope until I realized the enemy was creating chatter in my head.   The chatter created confusion, doubt and fear, and would have destroyed my desire to write because I couldn’t hear God’s voice.

Psalm 25:14 states: “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (ESV).  

The KJV replaces “friendship” with “secret.” Of course God whispers when he is telling secrets! What he was telling me was only for me to know.  He was whispering my part in fulfilling his will – based on my abilities! 

I have asked God many times to reveal to me things in my life – and He has, however I haven’t always been ready to hear it.  Maybe he revealed this same information to me years ago and my heart simply was not positioned to receive it.  I am thankful He is a faithful and consistent God who patiently waited for me.  My prayer is for each of you to reaffirm your belief in a Master who wants to bless you – to create opportunities to hear His whispers.