Matthew 25: 14-30 (NKJV)
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.'
‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
In these verses of scripture, the Bible tells the story of workers who were all given talents and how subsequently they all came forward and received their rewards for what they had done with their talents.
Verses 24-26 tell us about the worker who had hidden his talent instead of using it. In Matthew 25 v26-27, his master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest."
You could hold a hundred apple seeds in your pocket, but you could not hold the thousands of apples they could become. They become much more than what you could contain or hold. The seeds are like our gifts lying dormant within us. The Lord demands an account for what we do with our talents. The worker who had done nothing with his talent was called wicked and lazy by their Master.
Why not write down your gifts and ask yourself what practical thing you are doing to express each of them. The Bible tells us to ‘stir up the gift within you’ (2 Timothy 1: 6). When the Master asked what the workers had done with their talents, it reflected a demand for personal responsibility concerning what they had been given. The Bible says our gift will bring us before kings (Proverbs 18: 16). Let’s allow the Lord’s glory to flow through our gifts as we begin to express them, and grow them. So that our lives become ‘uncontainable’ in the influence we have on those around us. We will be richly rewarded for the abundance of fruit our gifts produce.