The Parable of the Talents - The Importance of Personal Effectiveness and Growth

There are many lessons that can be learnt from the Parable of the Talents as recorded in Matthew 25: 14- 30.

Now a Parable is a compound Greek word consisting of "para" which means "beside", and "ballein" which means "to throw." It literally means "to throw beside," thus to make comparison. And a Parable can have different interpretations, depending on who is reading it.

One of the interpretations that I like is the fact every human being is born with talents. A talent in this case can be said to be a natural aptitude or a skill. Some people are born with many skills (5 Talents), while some are born with one skill. But everyone has a skill. What matters isn’t what we’re naturally endowed with — it’s what we do with it that matters.

 So Jesus acknowledges the imbalance in the distribution of skills in life, but he also suggests that our starting conditions and environment are irrelevant.

One person earns five talents, another earns only two, but both are congratulated equally because both achieved a 100% gain. These persons have identified and effectively utilised their skills and aptitudes to produce 100% results. These people did not go around comparing themselves with others and moaning about the fact that some people had more than them. They were grateful and they delivered. However there is this servant who had one talent and buried it without achieving an increase. This is typical of some people who moan and groan about the fact that they were not blessed with a lot of talents or skills and therefore that is a reason for not reproducing 100%.

These people blame God for not getting enough and not achieving a lot in Life. They blame the environment, their parents, the government and even their looks. The Bible says that even those that did not reproduce had their talents taken off them and given to those that already had 10 talents. The one that did not reproduce ended up worse in life.

An effective lesson from this parable is to identify your God-given talents and seek to reproduce 100%. If you have only one talent, it means that God believes that only one talent is needed for you to achieve your dream or conquer the world. Take a look at musicians who rule the world with their voices and the athletes that astound the world with their feats.

 Remain blessed and grateful. -
http://www.covenantrelationships.org/2013/10/the-parable-of-talents-importance-of.html