Hiding our talent

We’ve all known people who’ve been gifted with natural talent in an area, such as music or art, but who’ve never developed that talent, and didn’t improve to a point of having great skill or expertise. We tend to look on that person with pity, thinking about the waste of talent, and what could have been. Spiritually speaking, we’ve all been gifted with “talents” which we choose to use or hide.

Now most would know that our English word “talent,” in its original meaning, did not mean “natural ability.” The word talent took on the meaning of “a natural ability to be developed” in the 1400’s, based on the Parable of the Talents in the Gospels. The Greek word “talenton,” in the New Testament referred to a unit of weight, from which a monetary value was derived. There are debates as to how much a talent of silver weighed, but most sources seem to put it in the range of 60 to 80 pounds, placing the value at a minimum of $100,000. Let’s just say it was a big sum of money.

Now let’s look at the Parable of the Talents, paying particular attention to the third servant, the one given one talent:

"The servant given one talent said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'

Sadly, the one-talent man seems to fit a negative stereotype people have of Christians - you know, those who try very hard not to do anything wrong, and who judge others who do. The third servant could pride himself on his avoidance behaviours (“I don’t commit adultery, I don’t curse, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke,” etc. etc. etc.). But what did he do on the positive side?

As Believers, our lives need to follow the original blessing on mankind in the Book of Genesis: “Be fruitful and multiply…” In other words, merely avoiding wrong behaviour, and living in our own little worlds isn’t what our Master expects from us. We need to invest our lives in the Kingdom and in the lives of others, so that we become profitable, so to speak. Let’s not waste our lives, or our talents. Don’t be afraid. Go ahead and dig up that buried talent, and use it for the Kingdom. It’s one investment you’ll make that pays eternal dividends.