Time, Treasure, & Talents

Matthew 25:14-18 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

This is a very popular passage to be used in the context of business or financial stewardship.  I hope to shed some new insights and show that resources aside it is our actions that determine our life’s fortune.

Verse 14 is very clear and we need to completely understand that it is not about us.  The property (time, talents, treasure) that has been entrusted to us is not ours, it’s His.  All of our abilities and talents we were born with or developed through our lives are put there by God to do His will here on earth.  You’re not that talented, just that blessed.  Likewise any resources that you have now or acquired through business ventures are a gift.  This property has been given to us to multiply and bless others.

I believe that all of us want to be used mightily by God, but not all of us are.  This may be because we get in the way.  Instead of staying low and realizing that it’s really not you that is so special, but that God is using you in a special way. We tend to puff up and get very proud of our accomplishments.  We get a little E.G.O. Edging God Out.  Staying low and glorifying God for what He does through us is a prerequisite for being used.

If you’re not sure why you are not being blessed ask God if this could be one of the reasons.

2 Choices

#1 – Went at once

The two servants who had doubled their resources had one thing in common.  In verse 16 it states that the man went at once and put his money to work. Money could be replaced with natural talents or time.  The concept here is that he went to work immediately.  Without delay.  Like now, not later.

Side Note: When the author is aggressive about a certain topic he is likely preaching to himself!

The reason most things don’t get done is because things don’t get started.  Many people wait for the “ducks to get in a row” before we start anything significant.  There is amazing power in doing something now even if it is a small something.

A great small-something-to-do that creates action and sets up continued action is journaling.  Grab a pen and paper.  Write down where your business is today.  Write down where you want it to be 30 days from now.  Then write down the specific actions you’re going to do to achieve your goal.

Here is the secret step to this process.   Do what you wrote down!

#2 – Dug a hole in the ground

It is interesting that in both examples the Scripture tells us what they did once they received the money.  The servant with the 5 talents went at once while the servant with 1 talent just went off. When we are given the option do we go to work at once or just go off to do some work.

The difference in these two terms is in the intentionality.  As we discussed earlier about creating a plan of action and then implementing that plan is very intentional.  However, the phrase went off , dug a hole is very careless.

This servant ended up doing work but it was futile work and ultimately harder.  To be in the business of digging holes and getting no return sounds foolish but how many of us do this daily in our business.

There are two kinds of activities we engage in with our business on a daily basis.  They are IGA’s or non-IGA’s.  IGA is an acronym for income generating activities.  Some non-IGA’s we cannot avoid.  We have to do administrative work, organize, etc., but unless these activities are leading us to do things that create income they are all meaningless.

IGA’s are setting up meetings, doing presentations, and training distributors.  They almost always are directly related to communicating with other people, which is why so many of us don’t do them.  Dealing with people is difficult and stressful at times so instead we file papers, clean off the desk, or tinker with a website.  So that way we feel like we’re working, but in reality we are just digging holes.

3 things we can do right now to grow our business

1. Pray for a humble heart and ask God what He wants from you and your business.  How can you directly bless someone with the business He has entrusted to you?
2. Journal what He reveals to you.  Also journal a specific course of action for the next 30 days that will dramatically impact your business.
3. As the Nike slogan says, “Just Do It!”  Start now on IGA’s and avoid the pitfalls of useless activities.

About the Author: William Robbins is the founder of MLMFellowship, and the owner of iWantMoreWealth.com with his wife Bethany. Learn more about William and Bethany.