We are all incredibly blessed by God. We routinely thank Him for the many ways He has blessed us and ask Him to continue to do so in the future. We likely acknowledge in prayer that everything we have is nothing more than a blessing from Him; we have physical and spiritual blessings beyond measure. But how well are we putting our blessings to use?
In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus teaches using The Parable of the Talents, telling the story of a man who was “about to go on a journey” (Matthew 25:14). Before leaving, he called his servants together “and entrusted his possessions to them.” Three servants received three different large sums of money to manage in their master’s absence “according to [their] own ability” (Matthew 25:15). When the master returned, he praised two servants but rebuked the third because instead of putting the funds to use, he fearfully buried them in the ground.
Jesus is teaching several spiritual lessons with this memorable story. First, we are blessed “according to our own ability,” which means that God gives us blessings that we can immediately use. Second, we have a responsibility to use and not bury the blessings we have. We need to overcome our fears or reservations and faithfully put our blessings into service. Third, we are expected to use our blessings to benefit the master, God, and His Kingdom.
How many blessings have we buried, put on a shelf, or saved for ourselves?
Matt Langfield