But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
(Matthew 25:18)
Have you listened to Matthew 25 lately? You will hear several parables of Jesus. One of them is the story Jesus told about the talents. The master gave money to each of his three servants, but only two went and did something good with it. The third servant took his talent (money), found a good hiding place, and he dug a hole and hid that money.
It’s interesting that the Master called him wicked and lazy, but look at the work the servant did in order NOT to work. Think of the effort it took to go, dig a hole and hide that talent. Consider the amount of mental energy he expended to convince himself that he made the right decision. He even convinced himself that it was the Master’s own fault for why he didn’t grow his talent (Matthew 25:24-25). If he would have taken half the effort, gone down to the bank and invested it, he would have doubled his money (Matthew 25:26-27).
I remember an older man in Ohio once saying that it is amazing how hard people work NOT to work. This came to my mind as I thought about this third servant working to hide his talent.
So, how hard are we working not to work? Are we expending too much effort convincing ourselves that we can’t use the talents, opportunities and energy God gave us?
For example, the people in the days of Haggai had convinced themselves it was not “time” to build the Lord’s house, but were working awful hard at building their own homes (Haggai 1). The Lord expected them to use their time, money, talents and energy to build His house, but they were expending it on making their own places nice. So, God poked holes in their bags of wages (Haggai 1:6). If they wouldn’t use their talents for Him, then they would be taken away. Very similar to what we see in Matthew 25.
God gave us gifts to be used! Take a look at these four examples from Scripture.
Romans 12:6 – so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…
1 Peter 4:10 – As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…
Ephesians 4:7-16 – By the grace of Jesus Christ we have been given various “gifts” (vs. 7-8). And he “gave” (vs. 11) these gifts to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (vs. 12). And this only works right when “each part is working properly” (vs. 16).
1 Corinthians 12:7 – These gifts are given by the Holy Spirit, “for the common good.”
Are you working hard to dig holes and hide your talents, or are you taking them and using them for the Master?