The Parable of the Talents and Personal Development
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Written by Jimmie Burroughs – Email this article to a friend
The parable of the talents is a great teaching of Jesus on morals. It was given as an exhortation to his disciples. In the parable, each servant was given a different amount of money based on his or her qualifications to manage it. While a talent in Greek is a measure of weight, it is interesting to apply the parable to the English word talent or ability. Different people are gifted with different talents. Some are far more gifted than others, but the importance brought out by the teaching of Jesus is how the talents were used and not on how much the final gain was. For those who had the greatest talents, more was expected. “For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much more is required.” –Luke 12:48
Here is the story:
Matthew 25:14-30 (KJV)
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods, unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The Application:
At the time Jesus taught this parable, a talent was approximately the value of twenty years of labor by an average person making average wages. So if the average family income today is around $50,000 that meant that a talent could have been around a $1,000,000 in today’s money. Therefore, the master’s total wealth was $8,000,000. Those who attended this large estate were referred to as slaves, but were more than what we would think of as a slave. They were intelligent, qualified managers who were entrusted to manage a large amount of wealth.
Traditionally, the parable of the talents is interpreted as an exhortation to the disciples of Jesus to use their God-given gifts in the service of the Kingdom of God, and to be willing to take the necessary risks for the Kingdom’s sake.
It is to be noted that the master entrusted different amounts to be managed according to the different abilities. One received 5 talents; one received 2 talents, and one received only one talent. The master then left his fortune in the hands of these three managers and traveled far away, probably searching for other business ventures. After some time, he returns to receive an accounting from his financial managers. The first manager had doubled the amount entrusted him from 5 talents to 10 talents; the second manager had also doubled the number from 2 talents to 4 talents; the third manager had buried his talent out of fear and had no gain.
The first two were praised and rewarded for their good management while the third was reprimanded and punished. What is the moral of the story? It is first to be recognized that everything in the story is symbolic of something else. The word talent in the parable had to do with weight, about 80 pounds in today’s measure. The word talent in English refers to ability. The best interpretation, I believe, would be to consider it as being symbolic of that which was valuable to the master.
It was not apparently the amount of the gain, since the one who gained 5 talents and the one gained two; both received the same recognition. It is apparently not the gaining of money that pleased the master but the faithfulness of his servants that impressed him. The moral then is based on the attributes of the servants. I see 7 outstanding attributes as exhibited by the first two. They were:
- Diligent
- Fearless
- Trustworthy
- Loyal
- Faithful
- Giving
- Happy
They were Diligent:
Diligence is the opposite of laziness. The first two servants did not procrastinate, but went immediately and invested the money and in time doubled its value. Diligence is one of the great tenants of personal development. It is taking intuitive to do something, counting the risks but not being intimidated by them. The failure to take appropriate action is one of the greatest enemies to success as well as personal development.
They were Fearless:
I suppose there is no one completely without fear, but the point is not letting fear control one’s life, his or her decisions, or their actions. There is always a possibility of losing when you invest (not just money but in any kind of way in your life) but this did not hold the good servants back. They were willing to take the risks because they knew that they had to act if that which was desired was to be gained.
They were Trustworthy:
It is apparent that all three of these men had won the confidence of their master; he was willing to trust them with a large amount of his money. How many people do you know that you would be willing to turn over 5 million dollars to take care of for you while you were away, or even a million dollars? Most of us would probably say, not anyone. These were men who had accomplished a great deal in proving themselves people of personal character; otherwise, they never would have held the high position in their master’s estate.
They were Loyal:
“Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life” Napoleon Hill said, “Loyalty is an absolute precept. If there were no absolutes, it would be void and useless but since there are absolutes, it is one of the top virtues of personal development, from whence all others are derived.” Josiah Royce in his 1908 book “The Philosophy of Loyalty” said, “Loyalty is the heart of all the virtues, the central duty amongst all the duties.” Loyalty goes outside one’s self, and addresses the concern of others and their needs.
They were Faithful:
It was the servant’s faithfulness that brought the praise of the master in the parable. It can be concluded that faith alone is the means to success where the outcome is not to be the determining factor. Jesus never gave an example in the parable of the result if there had been a loss instead of a gain, but it appears that the praise would have been the same since it was given on faithfulness alone. Therefore, it seems from the parable that when a person faithfully uses their talents to the best of their ability, it always results in success. There is one consideration, however, and that is that God’s view of success is not man’s view of success.
They were Giving:
The servants in the parable were not working for themselves; they were working for their master to increase his wealth. A secret that is good to learn is when you are able to increase the wealth of others you are also going to increase your own.
Finally, they were Happy:
The first two servants joined into the joy of their master because they had been faithful to him. Most today have the opposite concept of what happiness is. To most, it is in receiving; however, in reality it is in giving. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” -Acts 20 35. Our happiness goes forward in what we do to help others. I like the way Steve Pavlina puts it, “Happiness is something you exhale, not something you inhale.”
Conclusion:
This parable of Jesus under-girds the teachings of many of the qualified teachers on personal development today and that is that the personal character is the essence of all success. At the root of all true success is a concern for the welfare of others. It is the only success that brings the kind of gratification and happiness experienced by the faithful servants of the parable.
About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. There are hundreds of articles to help you on this website (Website Contents) in your personal growth.
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