Observe, he gave to every man “according to his several ability.” He gave to each servant just the number of talents that he could take care of and use. Some people complain that they have not more talents; but we have each the number of talents that we can properly employ. If we take good care of what we have, God will give us more. There were eight talents to be distributed among three persons; the master gave to one five; to a second, two; and to another, one. The man went away; and the servants fully understood that he expected them to improve their talents and trade with them. God is not unreasonable; He does not ask us to do what we cannot do; but He gives us according to our several ability, and He expects us to use the talents we have.
We read: “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.” Notice that the man who had the two talents got exactly the same commendation as the man who had the five. The one who got five doubled them, and his lord said to him: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The one who had two also doubled them, and so had four talents; to him also the lord said: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
If the man who had the one talent had traded with it, he would have received exactly the same approval as the others. But what did he do? He put it into a napkin and buried it. He thought he would take care of it in that way.
After the lord of these servants had been gone a long while he returned to reckon with them. What does he find in the case of the third servant? He has the one talent; but that is all.
I read of a man who had a thousand dollars. He hid it away, thinking he would in that way take care of it, and that when he was an old man he would have something to fall back upon. After keeping the money for twenty years he took it to a bank and got just one thousand dollars for it. If he had put it at interest, in the usual way, he might have had three times the amount. He made the mistake that a great many people are making to-day throughout Christendom, of not trading with his talents. My experience has been as I have gone about in the world and mingled with professing Christians, that those who find most fault with others are those who themselves have nothing to do. If a person is busy improving the talents that God has given him he will have too much to do to find fault and complain about others.
God has given us many opportunities of serving Him, and He expects that we should use them. People think that their time and property are their own. What saying is more frequent than this? “I have a right to do what I will with my own.”
On one occasion a friend was beside the dying bed of a military man who had held an important command in successful Indian wars. He asked if he were afraid to die. He at once said: “I am not.”
“Why?” He said: “I have never done any harm.”
The other replied: “If you were going to be tried by a court-martial as an officer and a gentleman, I suppose you would expect an honorable acquittal?” The dying old man lifted himself up, and with an energy which his illness seemed to render impossible, exclaimed, “That I should!”
“But you are not going to a court-martial; you are going to Christ; and when Christ asks you, ‘What have you done for me?’ what will you say?” His countenance changed, and earnestly gazing on his friend, with agonized feelings he answered: “Nothing!—I have never done anything for Christ!”