A Good Return

“To everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not,  even what he has will be taken away." Luke 19:26

Today's parable in the 19th chapter of Luke is about a master who left a talent each to his 10 servants while he went off to claim a crown. A talent is no small sum of money. Each talent was about 20 years wages of an ordinary person. So for someone on minimum wage, that would have been more than two million eight hundred pesos. They were entrusted to not only take care of it but to make it grow. When he came back, one servant made the mistake of just keeping the huge amount of money in a handkerchief!

When one is given a job, we have to do our best and use our skills so that the company who hired us earns from our labor directly or indirectly. If we are a good employee, we will make sure our employer earns a lot from our efforts! The same is true with what God gives us. We don't own anything. What we have is God's investment in us. And one day there will be an accounting of what we have done with all that God entrusted to us- our time, talent and treasure.

Sometimes in a business there is a dishonest employee. He steals money. Instead of the company earning from him, the company loses money :^((( In Jesus' story, the master reprimands one servant not because he stole, but because he should have, at the very least, put the money in the bank instead of keeping it in a handkerchief, so it could earn interest. The master takes the talent from him with much disapproval and gives it to the one who earned 10 times the talent! What would this demanding master have done if the servant absconded with the talent?

God rewards those who use their talents well. Those who are faithful with little will be entrusted with more. Those who neglect or squander what they have, or use it for evil and not good, will lose what they have, and even be punished. Perhaps it's time to take stock of our own talents and see if God is getting a good return on His investment in us.

 Father, teach us how to please You!