Oh thank God, alas, the note on Google on my site was removed today. My website has been declared harmless once again by Google. It’s been a really long night, but it’s over now, thankfully. A little research I did revealed that it was a flaw on the version of word press that I was using that a popular hacker exploited. He’s been doing it online, so guess my website just moved one more level up in global recognition. For all who stayed with me through the trails, thank you again.
There is a good old bible story that is arguably one of the most popular, it’s called the parable of talents. I’ll be using this as my case study for this particular article, and for the next one as well. The first article we’ll be looking at this together at face value, then the next one, we’ll go deeper into the roots of the parable. It promises to be an exciting journey. The one question I want to ring through your mind as we go through however is, “did you bury it?”
There are two categories of people, the traders and the bury-ers, all of humanity fall somewhere in between this divide, as bury-ers or as traders. So are you a trader or a burier? Are you trading or burying? Well, before you go on into analyzing yourself on the wrong indexes, let’s plunge into this study together first.
Parable of the Talents – Matthew 25:14-30
14For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Let’s look at the lessons we can get from this directly on face value.
1. You will only earn from the person you serve. “who called his servants and entrusted his property to them”. You are not qualified to earn beyond out of the scope of your service. Properties and rewards are for service rendered, and he that renders service is termed a servant. Your master is the one that is capable of rewarding you.
2. Everybody gets something. “To one he gave”. Everyone of the servants got something, there is nobody in this life who doesn’t have something. There is something you have that has the capacity to multiply.
3. Everybody has different starting points that is a function of their abilities. “Each according to his ability”. In life our limit to how much of money we’ll make is a function of what we can handle. Our abilities set the limits of our starting point. Our show of responsibility gives us access to more. What you have today, is what you can handle. To get more, increase your ability.
4. All received what they had been given. It takes first receiving what you have been given to be able to put it to use. When you have received, you can use, how you use it is another question entirely.
5. There were two categories of people who received wealth. The Traders, and the Bury-er. Two people traded with what they were given, and one dug the ground and buried his. The traders were willing to take risks, to lose what they had for a while in exchange for value and keep the exchange on, while the bury-er was afraid.
6. Those who take risks increase their capacity to handle more, those who live in fear gain nothing.
7. Judgment days are sure. No matter how long it takes, there will be a day of reckoning, for every good deed for every bad deed. Everything you do will be judged. The reason people continue to do the wrong thing is because it takes a long time for judgment to happen, but judgment happens.
8. The master called those who traded good and faithful. Trading requires being good, and being faithful. You can ask forex traders 🙂
9. When you are faithful in little, you will be given charge over more. It also shows that the reward for faithfulness as an employee, is equity in the masters vision. “Enter into the Joy of your master”. It also said rule.. the reward for financial dexterity is rulership.
10. Empty barrels make the most noise. The bury-ers spoke for the longest. Good action requires only little words. It also shows that bury-ers are full of excuses.
11. The source of financial failure is fear. “I was afraid”. If you hide the money you won’t lose it, but if you have the same amount of money you had last year this year, only inflation will make you lose.
12. The master called burying talent, wicked and slothful – lazy. when you have money, or anything, and you don’t put it to use, to add value to others, or to serve it’s purpose, you are wicked and lazy.
13. The one talent was collected and given to the guy with ten talents. The people who are lazy and wicked will ultimately lose their resources to the people who are productive. Money flows in the direction of productive value adders.
14. The ultimate position of the lazy man is darkness and pain. This shows that worse than poverty is ignorance and consequently suffering.
15. Whatever you bury, you will lose. It will also cost you your freedom and peace.
The real difference between those who were termed good and faithful and the one that was termed wicked and slothful was who traded and who buried their talent. Talent in this case was money, but could apply to a lot of other things. Whatever you don’t use you will lose. Whatever you don’t trade with is buried. That money in the bank? It’s buried. That underutilized capability? It’s buried. That skill unused? It’s buried. What have you buried? What are you trading with? Consider this as a wake up call.
