Parable of the Talents

I’m going to start something new.  On Tuesdays I’d like to post about something God has been showing me lately, either through His word – The Bible, or through answered prayers.

This morning during Children’s Church we had a really good devotional.  Roen remembered that recently somebody jokingly told him that when her child was naughty, she put her in a cage.   I asked him if he thought naughty children should be put in cages.  He said yes.  I told him no, because children are not animals, children are gifts from God.  Then I quoted Psalm 127 to him, “Lo, children are an heritage from the LORD…” 

Then I remembered the parable of the talents that Jesus shared.  Here it is:

"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. "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. "Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. "But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' "He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 'And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 'So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 'Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 25:14-30 NKJV)

I likened this parable to God giving us children.  The talents, a piece of money in Bible times, I likened to children that God has given to us and commanded us to look after, nurture, teach, and train them to recognize and answer their God-given desire and love to serve Him.  It says in the parable that God gives to us “to each according to his own ability.”  God would never give you more than you can handle, and that also goes for children.  Whether God gives you 5 children, 2, or 1, you are responsible for the nurture and admonition of that child.  They are not ours, just like the money, but they are His.  We are simply stewards of them, until He calls them back to Himself, and He will.  He expects us to have something to give back to Him, just like the master expected his money back plus more.  I think sometimes we forget how fragile life is and how short it can be for some.  We think that the children we have are ours forever.  We never know when their time will come, when God will call them back to Himself.  Just like the servants had no idea when the master would return and ask for an account of his money.  What will we have done with our children that would be pleasing to God – the Master??  Will we have let them go, do their own thing, raise themselves while we seek after our own selfish desires?  Will someone else have raised them for us?  Will we have taught them Truth?  Or will we have filled them with the world’s lies?  Will we have taught them to multiply by loving and serving others, and spreading the love of Jesus Christ?  Or will we have taught them to sit and stagnate by loving themselves above all else?  Nowadays the world is so set on me, me, me.  That is not God’s plan for His children.  He expects us to take what He has given freely and to spread, and spread, and grow, and grow.  Above all else, He expects us to teach our children His commandments, and to teach them about the selfish desires we are all born with, and how His Son, Jesus Christ, was born very humbly as a baby, lived a life free of sin, and willingly was nailed to a cross, a very gruesome and painful death, and had the wrath of God poured out on Him, when it was supposed to be poured out on us.  His own Father in Heaven had to turn His face away from His only Son while He suffered and died because the sins that He bore that day on that cross where too horrible for a Holy and Just God to look upon. 

Now, when the weight of this hit me, 5 years ago, it hit hard.  My eyes were opened and I realized that Jesus died for ME…  He took the place where I should have been.  He bore the sins that I would commit, even though I wouldn’t be born for another nearly 2000 years.  He also died for YOU and He bore the sins you would commit.  And He bore the sins of your mother, and your father, and your children, and your friends, and you cousins, and your grandparents, and your aunts and uncles, and your neighbors, and the guy you saw at Wal-Mart whose name you don’t even know, and the man living in the jungles of Africa, and the terrorists in Al Qaeda, and the gay man and the lesbian, and the atheist college student, and the abortionist at the Planned Parenthood Clinic, and so on and so on and so on.  Every human being that has ever been conceived…Jesus Christ died that that person might live.  Not just in this life, but for eternity in Heaven.  Do you realize that we’re all going  to one of two places when we die?  There is no third option.  It’s Heaven or Hell, my friends.  And God has given some very clear instructions on how we can avoid what awaits those who have rejected His Son.  We are not commanded to worship Jesus just to avoid Hell.. we’re commanded to worship Jesus because  He alone is worthy of our worship!!!

  

What would you prefer?  To lay down your life for… Buddha?   What has Buddha done for you?  Does he give you your every breathe?  Did he create the heavens and the earth and everything in between?  Does he freely offer his life as a ransom for your own?  No, he does none of those things for you.  Would you rather lay down your life for.. the environment?  And worship the creation rather than the Creator?  How about.. sports?  Because athletes have proven to be of very high character and deserving of praise for the things they can do.  But wait, weren’t they GIVEN those wonderful abilities that they are paid big bucks to show off?  How about… politics?  Because..  politicians and their personal agendas have no flaws. 

Consider this..  Jesus Christ.  Humble and lowly.  Of a meek and gentle spirit.  Sinless.  A part of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Love in the flesh.  Have you ever considered that, but for Jesus Christ, we wouldn’t know what love is?  He was betrayed by one of His own disciples for you.  He was humiliated and stripped of His clothing in front of many for you.  He was beaten and had His beard ripped out for you.  He had a crown of thorns pressed into His head for you.  He was whipped until the flesh on His back was flayed off and then forced to carry a large wooden cross for you.  He was laid on his back on that cross with His hands and feet stretched out for you.  He received nails, more like stakes, into those same hands and feet for you.  He was lifted into the air to hang on that cross for you.  He was forced to support His weight on those feet with stakes hammered through them has He struggled for every suffocating breath for you.  He was forced to look down on His mother, crying in agony for her Son, as He suffered a very slow and agonizing death for you.  He watched as the sky turned completely black in the middle of the day and He knew that His Father, God in Heaven, had turned His face away from His son for you.  As He hung on that cross, He bore all your sin, for you.  And after nine hours of this torture, He cried out “It is finished.”  And He died for you.  And Satan smiled.  And all those who loved Him wept.  And He was placed in a tomb to rot.  But… Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him from rising again for you.  He defeated death so you would never have to know it.  After three days He ascended from the tomb and was seen by many hundreds of people.  He revisited His disciples and told them to tell the world of His love and of His payment for their debt.  He did this for you.  He offers His life for yours, free of charge.  Every other religion this world has to offer requires much from you.  All He asks for is obedience.  Lay down your life and take His.  I did it.  How about you?