Friday, April 17, 2009

Burying Your Talent: A Bad Investment Strategy

By David Ryser

“Will you at least give it a try?”

I was attempting to convince a high school student to make an effort to complete his class work.  Or even to start on it.  He was in danger of failing the class, in great part because he refused to complete any of his assignments.  He seemed to be capable of passing the course if he would just do the work.

Didn’t he know he could fail the class?  Yes.

Over time, I realized this young man was failing the class because he was afraid he might fail it.  This didn’t make much sense to me at first.  If he was concerned about failing, why didn’t he work hard to succeed?

Then it hit me.

This young man wasn’t afraid of failing.  He was afraid of being a failure.  If he put his best effort into the class and failed, he would be a failure.  But if he put no effort into the class and failed, he could always tell himself that he could have passed the class if he had tried.  He was willing to fail…but on his own terms.

He was afraid that his best wasn’t good enough.

I thought about this young man recently while I was reading the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  In this familiar parable, a nobleman is preparing to go on a long journey.  He calls his servants together and distributes money to each of them to do business with until his return.  He doles out the money to them according to their ability.  To one he gives 5 talents.  To another he gives 2 talents.  To the third, he gives 1 talent.

Then he leaves.

It helps us to understand this parable when we realize that a talent is a lot of money.  A talent was the largest unit of money in Jesus’ day.  One talent was worth 3,000 shekels.  3,000 shekels was approximately 10 years’ wages for the average working man.  So even the man who had 1 talent was in possession of something that had great value.

Then one day, the nobleman returned from his journey.

The nobleman calls his servants together to give an account of what they did with the money he had given to them.  Each of the first two servants had done business and doubled his money.  The third had buried his talent.  He had not lost it.  But he had not increased it.

His explanation for his failure sounds familiar to me.

The third servant defended his failure by explaining that he was afraid to fail.  He feared his master’s displeasure and was afraid he might lose his talent if he did business with it.  He was afraid that his best might not be good enough.  So he didn’t risk the talent he was given.  Instead, he buried it.  He returned the unused talent back to his master.

The master was not pleased.

I run into this kind of person both in life and in the ministry.  Many times they have big dreams about what they will be and what they will do.  They have the call of God on their lives.  God has deposited spiritual gifts, a measure of faith, and the Holy Spirit into them.

And they do nothing with what God has given to them.

I spoke recently with someone who has the call of God to preach.  This call burns in him.  He is frustrated because he is not doing what God called him to do.  I could hear the frustration and pain in his voice as he told me about it.  He confided to me that recently he had been approached by one of the pastors in his church.  The pastor asked him to preach.

The young man said no.

How can this be?  God has called this young man to preach.  An opportunity to preach has been presented to him.  And he refused!

How did this happen?

In the time since God called him, this young man has had a number of disappointing things happen to him.  People he trusted let him down.  Promises made to him were broken.  Things didn’t work out like he thought they would.  Over time, all of his dreams have died.

Except for one.

The dream of being an evangelist is the only dream he has left.  It is his sole source of hope for his life.  As long as that dream is alive, he is not a failure.

What if he accepts the invitation to preach and makes a mess of it?  What if his last dream dies also?  It would devastate him!

In the Parable of the Talents, the servant who buried his talent ultimately suffered everything he feared.  He is proclaimed as wicked, lazy, and worthless (verses 26 and 30).  He loses his talent (verse 28).  And he is thrown out of his master’s house (verse 30).

Do you suppose he felt better about himself because he failed on his own terms?  I think not.

What if he had invested his talent and lost it?  How would his master have reacted?  We will never know.  But could his fate have been any worse?  It may help to reread the parable and note that the servants were never commanded to make money.

They were simply told to do their master’s business.  So are we.

So whatever happened to the high school student who was afraid to fail?  Did he pass the class?  Did he succeed in life?

I don’t’ know.  I was just a substitute teacher.  I was with him for only a few days.

I never saw him again.

What will happen to the evangelist-to-be?  Will he risk his dream?  Will he put his talent to use and possibly fail?  I hope so.

And what about you?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

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