Risking Everything

One of the most well know parables of Jesus is surely the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30.  Three slaves are given differing amounts from their master.  Two take what is given and manage it to show increase while the third being fearful does nothing.  The first two are praised when the master returns while the third is not only chastised, but also is stripped of what was given.  At its heart it is another parable about the Kingdom of heaven.  And like other parables, there seem to be no end to the ways it has been handled and mishandled from the pulpit and the teaching podium.

 

As we read the parable and chew on it awhile, it is not a hard reach for us to see that each one of us has been given a life to live by the Creator God who has brought us all into being.  And as individual creatures within the creation, we find our circumstances different from others around us.  What serves as a common denominator is that we have all been given our life and we must all choose how that life will be lived.  The two affirmed as good in the parable are those who hold nothing back, but risk everything.  There is no element of controlling fear in their lives as we see in the life of the third slave. 

 

How do we live our lives?  Those who seek life in the Kingdom are those who are willing to risk everything God has given for His purposes.  Those who seek life in the Kingdom do not allow the possibility of failure to be an immobilizing deterrent.  The first slave in the parable was given five talents and the second was given two.  They risked it all.  We have been given one life.  Are we willing to risk it all for the purposes of God, or are we like the one talent slave whose fear caused him to waste the opportunity given to him by his master?