Yesterday God put it on my heart to read and re-read these two parables many times and then write down a few thoughts.
Read Matt 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27.
Why did the Master say to the lazy servant in both parables, that the servant should at least had given the money to the bankers and this way the Master would get His money back with interest, at the least? With no effort from the servant but still some increase. If talents and minas represent our God-given gifting, then what is the bank, where do God-given abilities grow with practically no effort? Our abilities are used automatically if we join under someone’s guidance, someone’s ministry or work without God explicitly saying to us to do so, but simply because our help is needed or because we know we can do it and we may have a natural ability to be good and useful. We walk over to the bank and deposit our talents or minas. And that is the bare minimum that the Master is requiring. But this will not lead to multiplication nor to realizing our full potential. Its simply ‘at least something…’, not our effort, but effort of the ‘bankers’, effort of another and revelation of another. When we pray and ask for God’s guidance and then He gives us a promise and opens a door to use what was given to us by Him from the beginning, then we walk into the promise and produce a major increase, though it will not be a whole other mina or a talent. Working under someone is easier and they will direct our abilities and find use for them and there is not much responsibility, responsibility is on the person in charge, but seeking our own connection and direction from God is much harder, and responsibility the shifts to us, but that is what will bring greater increase. But this is still just an increase. What about multiplication?
Minas produced minas, and talents produced talents. Whole mina’s and talents were produced, and that is what got the servants rewarded. The least expected minimum was interest from a bank, which implies a fraction and we don’t know what the reward for that was, as nobody brought only interest in the parables. When is a whole produced? Can it be that its is the discovery of God-given ability in another person and helping them understand it and use it and grow in it? That is why it’s a whole mina or talent, because it’s a whole person, its a whole gift! And the interest or a fraction is the use of our own God-given ability, so it’s not a whole, because it’s still attached to me, and it’s the expected minimum (low bank offered rate of return under someone, or higher return rate when we seek God and apply under His direction on our own). So the use and development of my own ability is the Minimum, and increase or multiplication means bringing more wholes, more of discovering and enabling of others to use their God-given ability. We can best notice and develop what we have in us, the gifting we or someone discovered in us. Since we are familiar with that particular gifting, we are more likely to notice the same potential towards a certain God-given gifting or a seed-inclination in another person, and since we have the experience of it being developed in us, we have the experience to help develop it in others. Mina produces whole minas and talent produces whole talents.
What do we do practically, how do we apply this? First, we need to bring increase from our own God-given ability. At minimum join someone that will teach your and develop the gift in you (even just to discover the gift in you); they will be in charge and they will bring some increase out of you. They get the credit for a whole mina or a talent, and we should be generous and give them an opportunity to fulfill what God wants them to do! That is trusting our mina or talent to a banker. A greater increase would be to move to the next level and ask God to show how we can use our abilities to work under direct direction of God; that takes patience and prayer and spending time with God in our secret place until God tells us what to do, and then we do it. We may still work under others, but there is more responsibility now, and key is under God’s guidance. And the third level, the level where we are worthy of being in charge of cities, is when we start praying to God to help us open the God-given abilities in others, where we hand-hold them at first and then help and develop and grow them so they can bring increase using their God-given abilities and eventually even notice and develop others and produce multiplication themselves! How beautiful is this picture!
If you know how to paint, develop yourself, preferably under God’s guidance for better increase, and then teach others, organize painting parties for kids and adults, etc; if you sing, develop the ability with God’s help and guidance and then discover and teach others and show them how to move up in their gift, with patience and self-sacrifice on your part, don’t just stay a leader of a group but develop leaders to take over; if you can lead a home group, work on that in your self and then start training a replacement, even if he or she will become better than you; if you can do business, do business and do it well and read books and grow in it, but don’t hoard it and don’t be afraid of employees growing and leaving or even competing, but rather grow them and enable them and empower them and be glad that they eventually move on and use their own skill in opening a business, skills that you helped develop; if you are a mom and you are staying home with no visible minas and talents, grow spiritually and grow in ways of raising children and loving your husband and loving and serving your God, and then teach other moms to raise kids and make life easier and share wisdom learned, and most of all make sure your daughters will become excellent mothers and your sons will become excellent fathers; if you are a father that seems like you have nothing special to offer, be the best friend your friends can have, and be the best dad your sons and daughters can have, and the best member of the church your pastor can have, and the best customer at the store you just visited, and the best Christian you can be to your neighbors and co-workers – in pure simplicity show them Christ through your life. All of the above and many more examples bring increase and bring full mina’s and talents, which in turn will yield a reward that our Master will give us when He returns with the Kingdom.
What about the lazy servant? He though that he was doing the right thing, actually, and returning the talent said ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ The lazy servant was afraid of his master and knew he was a hard man, a demanding Master, and he simply didn’t understand the Master. The God-given gift simply remained in him as one whole unit and the lazy servant simply wanted to return it whole back to the Master without losing even a fraction of it, concealing from others so they don’t steal it, took no risk, never brought it out to the world but hid in dirt or in handkerchief. He didn’t use the gift, the gift died in the useless servant, it sat inside him and never got out into the world for people to either enjoy or benefit from. It remained wholly concealed and preserved. Jesus calls him wicked, slothful, lazy. The servant was too slothful to discover the God-given ability in himself, too lazy to join someones vision or service and at least do something under someone’s direction, too wicked in the heart to come to God and ask Him what was the intention of the gifting, he didn’t have humility and willingness to serve and love people. Why the outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth for the lazy servant? Could that be regret? Utter regret and jealousy and self pity that walks next to such a person and slowly but surely eats at such heart until all life is gone out of him or her?
Now re-read the third paragraph again, cheer yourself up and come back to read the last paragraph.
Look at the reward! Enter into the joy of your Master! And our Master is a Master of joy, He knows how to have joy that nothing can extinguish! He will put us in charge of cities, He can trust us that we will not simply use the position for our own gain, but we will care for people and for their wellbeing. And that will bring even more joy and love and peace to us, and to others through us. Amen!