Risky Business

We are called to leave the world around us in better shape than it was in when we found it.

On Sunday, our pastor told the parable of the talents as found in Matthew 25:14-30. I’ve heard the story before and you probably have too. It’s about a master who gave one guy five talents, one guy two talents and one guy one. He then left on a long journey. I always got a little lost in the parable. I don’t even know what a talent is. I have heard it explained as we are supposed to use our “God-given” talents to serve Him, but our pastor explained it in a different way.

A talent was worth a ton of money. The guy who got five would have been a multimillionaire today. So the guy who got only one would have been given a large sum of money too. The master is gone a long time and he comes back to see what the servants have done with his money. The first two put their money to work, meaning they took risks with it. The third man buried his just to keep it safe. The master is thrilled with the first two servants. They weren’t afraid to takes risks with what they had been given in order to make more. The third guy, who lived in fear of risk, didn’t fare so well. The master took his one talent and threw him out into the darkness.

This was always the point where I was kind of scratching my head. I mean, he didn’t lose what he was given . Wasn’t that enough? The answer is no. Here’s why; we are all given resources from God. How we use them matters. Playing it safe and avoiding any hard work, or risk, or ridicule, when it comes to sharing the Kingdom of God with others, is not acceptable.

He put it this way. After our lives are over and we stand before God, it isn’t acceptable to say, “I left the world just the way I found it. It’s no worse and it’s no better.” In other words, if we just choose safety by taking our kids to church on Sundays, sitting in the pew an hour, giving our tithe to the offering plate and return next week to do the same, what kind of difference have we made for the Kingdom of God?

I never thought about it that way, but the three teenagers with me were stunned by the message and totally got it. Sharing our faith can be risky. People may ridicule us for it, but as Christians, we are expected to share our faith with others. How do people see Jesus in us? Do we act any differently than the atheist down the street? Are we sharing our resources? Do we invite others to church? Is there anything about us that sets us apart from the crowd?

And there’s the rub. We like to blend. Being set apart from the crowd isn’t always easy. It’s risky, but still, that’s what we are called to do. In the end, if we are doing God’s work, it doesn’t matter what any single member of the human race thinks about us. What matters is what God thinks. If we want Him to say, “Well done, faithful servant!” then we have to be willing to take risks.

How do you do with taking risks? How are you leaving the world around you better than you found it? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂