His Own Ability
His Own Ability
14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
Matthew 25:14-15
The story of the talents is a favorite for pastors. It is used so many times in sermons. Usually the focus is on the growth of the talents, which we’ll get into in the future but today I want to focus on these two verses.
In this story there is a man, wealthy enough to have talents and servants. He decides one day to leave his home and travel to a far country. He leaves several servants in charge of his affairs at home and then goes off.
The first thing I notice is that it says that he gave talents based on each person’s ability. This man knew what each servant was able to do.
We are not all the same. We all have different abilities. God created us unique and special. You’ll notice that the servant with the most ability didn’t receive everything but simply more than the others. Likewise, the servant with the least ability wasn’t left out completely but still received a talent.
God has something for all of us. It is never God’s plan that one person does everything while another does nothing. Some might have more responsibilities than others, but all make up a grand machine, with each person a part of that machine. The bible uses the idea of a body, some parts are more than others, but all are part of the one body nonetheless.
As we’ll see, when we read on, the one with more ability, and therefore talents as well, is able to and expected to have greater results. God doesn’t expect five extra talents from the one who only got two or one. Each will be judged individually and not on what others were able to do or not do.
Look at your own life and see. How much does God expect from you? Are you accomplishing the growth of talents he’s looking for?
You might be asking- what exactly is the talent here? What does it symbolize? We’ll look into that next week.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto