by Dr. Ralph L. Keiper
WASTED TALENTS
I N THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS, there is a sad and tragic view con cerning the man who did not use his talent according to his proper ability. Some reader may find himself in a similar situation. You may not realize that you are wasting your ability which should be wholly devoted to the Lord. This man’s problem was that he was overly conservative and cautious. He felt he did not have the ability to do what he should. In addition, he was fearful of his master and the impend ing day of reckoning. Too many peo ple are so fearful of the future that they paralyze themselves with the present. Matthew 25:24 reads, “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man.” There was evidently an improper relationship between the master and his servant. I believe there are many people today who are serving the Lord Jesus Christ in this same manner. They look at Him as a hard taskmaster and have paralyzed themselves with all kinds of fears. They experience no joy or victory whatsoever. They are capti vated in a prison built from their own imaginations. In a certain sense this steward was minding other people’s business in stead of his own. He had no energy to do what the Lord wanted him to do. There were tragic results which fol lowed. One of the common practices in the day of our Lord was to hide money. There were no banks as you and I know them today. Cash would be carried in money belts and conse quently it was often lost or stolen. Now, the day of reckoning has come for this servant. He must come be fore the Lord. The tragedy of it is, however, that he cannot say, “You gave me one talent, now I give you back two.” He could only sheepishly state, “Here’s the talent that you
gave me.” Look at the reply he re ceived, “His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant!” This is very sharp language. Perhaps he uses it in order to jar him into reality. In the final analysis the reason for his fear was a lack of energy. He is THE RED SEA When the children of Israel crossed the sea It comforts my heart to know That there must have been many timorous ones Who faltered and feared to go; Feared the ribbon of road which stretched Ahead like a narrow track With waves piled high on either side, And nothing to hold them back— Nothing to hold them back but a Hand They could neither see nor feel. Their God seemed distant and far away, And only the peril real. Yet the fearful ones were as safe as the brave, For the mercy of God is wide. Craven and fearless, He led them all Dry shod to the other side. And I think of the needless terror and pain We bring to our own Red Sea. Strengthen Thy timorous ones, dear Lord, And help us to trust in Thee! — Martha Snell Nicholson reminded that he had not been asked to go into the field to reap or to sep arate the straw from the grain. His business was to invest the talent he had been given. But this he failed to do. The end result was that the one talent was taken from him and given to the one who had the ten talents. 7
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