This is the second post in the ‘7 Money Secrets from the Parable of the Talents’ series. Don’t miss out on the first three Money Secrets and scripture reference video.
As a recap, in reading Matthew 25:14-30 [NKJV] the story of the Parable of the Talents, we discover that God has seven expectations concerning how His stewards should handle His resources.
The First Three Money Secrets are:
1. It’s Not Your Money – You, as a godly steward, have been entrusted with God’s resources; it’s up to you to effectively manage them.
2. The Lord Chooses His Investors – You have been handpicked for your assignment by the Lord; you are to be trained and thoroughly equipped to do the job at hand.
3. The Growth Expectation – Things must not stay the same; God demands that His resources should grow and expand to facilitate a growing kingdom. That includes you.
And now to the Day of Reckoning, Money Secret#4:
In Matthew 25:19, the scripture says “After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.” Today, if you have a checking account for example, you may keep a transactional record of debits and credits. The inflow and outflow of money is tracked to determine if the current bank balance makes sense, or whether some discrepancy has arisen. There are even occasions where you might have to handle the accounts of another person, like someone who has been in the hospital or rehab for an extended period, and bills still must be paid. Such activities require the utmost in integrity. Integrity speaks of who you are when no one’s looking over your shoulder.
When there is a significant amount of time between reviews, or if no one has been established as an Executor, or overseer of the money transaction process, it becomes an easy task for the dishonest to embezzle, or otherwise misdirect funds.
Now in the Parable of the Talents, there is one of the three Protégées who buries the $1 million that Rich Guy entrusts to him, as the paraphrase goes in the first post. We call him Protégée#3. As it happened Rich Guy had a set of expectations. The Message bible version of Matthew 25:26-30 expands our understanding even further on Rich Guy’s thought process when he hears what Protegee#3 has done:
26-27“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30“‘Take the thousand [my words: $1 million] and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’
It was not a lack of financial know-how that led Protegee#3 to bury his talent. Rich Guy had given all three Protégées training and instruction prior to leaving on his long journey. Each employee differed in “capability”. [Matthew 25:15] Protegee#3’s capability was shut down by his fear. He lacked the discipline it took to grow his allotment. And, finally, he forgot that he would one day have to explain his action and inaction.
Some questions Rich Guy might have asked during the Reckoning are:
1) How is it that you’ve had my money for this long and experienced no growth?
2) Didn’t I teach you how to grow the money?
3) Why did you wait so very long to begin following instructions?
4) How could you have so profoundly misunderstood my character, that you let fear keep you from being a good steward over my wealth and affecting increase?
How would you respond in a similar position? And, what does this mean for us today?
- We have an obligation to read and understand what the bible says about God’s expectations for us as stewards.
- We cannot say we did not know.
- We cannot say we preferred to risk nothing, or that we were afraid to find out how to create increase and generate profit.
- Our source of training and guidance is the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us to lead and guide us into the truth as we study God’s Word. [John 16:13]
Next post, I will discuss Money Secret#5, the Rewards of Excellent Stewardship.
Please comment on your persepctives about excellent stewardship below.
