Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 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.
The servant who received the five bags of sliver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of sliver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
Does this story sound familiar? It is the beginning of the story of the three servants, or the parable of the talents. Even if you’ve never heard this story, you can probably guess how it ends- the master comes back and is not happy with the servant who buried his bag of silver. You can check out the story in it’s entirety in Matthew 25:14-30. For today, I’m going to focus on verses 14-18.
The analogies in this story are pretty clear. The master in the story is our Master, Jesus Christ, and the servants in the story represent His servants- us. The money in the story represents the talents, abilities, and physical things that we are given throughout our lifetime. Jesus told this story while He was still on earth, so I am assuming that the “trip” the story refers to is the time in which we are currently living- after He went back to Heaven and before His triumphal entry back to earth.
Not everyone gets the same amount of silver.
Did you notice that? The silver was divided in proportion to their abilities. God does not bless any two people in the same ways, and He does not expect us to have the same outcomes.
In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. -Romans 12:6
It is for this reason that we should not compare ourselves to others, because in doing so we greatly deceive ourselves. The servant who received 2 bags of silver should not look at the servant who received 5 bags and feel like a failure. On the flip side, the servant who received 5 bags of silver should not become satisfied with only earning 2 additional bags. They all started with something different and will all end with something different.
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible to our own conduct. -Galatians 6:4-5
How to be good stewards of our blessings.
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. -1 Corinthians 10:31
It is NEVER about us.
For it is God working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. -Philippians 2:13
The servant knew that without his master, he would have had nothing. We are the same way. Without Jesus Christ, we have nothing. To take the blessings we are given and use them for our own selfish desires is not living a life pleasing to God. Our very being is in His hands (Job 12:10), the very breath in our lungs is by His doing. We owe it all to Him, so why would we not give Him all that we are and all that we have?
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. -Romans 12:1
