Last night I had a long talk with a friend about God and His Purposes for us all.
We talked way into the wee hours of the night -- and we figured a lot of things out.
We realized that the gifts we are given are to be used to help others find their gifts. We talked about the parable of the talents -- and how Christ teaches us that the person with one talent who uses it to help others bring their talents to God is like the first man who returns to his master with ten talents. Those talents come from the people around you -- the ones you must lead.
The person with one talent, who buries it in the dirt; in the parable he is beaten and his talent is taken away and given to the credit of the man who has ten.
That may sound harsh, but in fact, we realized, with God's help, that this person was hiding from his talent; and so this person needed the man with ten talents to lead him to finding his own. So when the man with one talent has his given to the credit of the man who has much, it is not just so he can suffer -- but actually an explanation of the relationship between those that lead and those that fear their own gifts.
Those that lead with their gifts bring others to God and receive credit in heaven for the gifts of those who they bring; those that hide from their own gifts suffer greatly in this world, and need someone to lead them to their talents.
This is the parable of the talents.
But my friend had even greater insight. She pointed out that we can also see the man with ten talents as Christ, and the landowner as God the Father. Then, those of us who seek to be like Christ are more like the person with five talents, who receive God's blessing, but are more likely to do less under our own steam than Christ himself (no kidding).
Another way to look at the person with five talents is to see the person who, given one talent, finds more in him or herself. That person does not receive the extra talent from the one who only had one talent, but is still called good and faithful servant.
In addition to all that -- we also examined what it means to be yourself. Everyone is always talking about being yourself -- being "genuine". But who is that person?
Well, that person is the one who you are when you are alone; the one you are when you lie awake at night, thinking to yourself -- the one who has tastes and ideas that are not driven by anyone else. When you are challenged by someone to name your favorite flavor of ice cream, or your favorite color -- the real you is the one who answers. Nobody can tell you anything about yourself beyond that -- nobody can determine your tastes for you; though many try to skew them.
The challenge is in bringing that real person out into the open, sharing him or her with the rest of the world, regardless of the consequences. That's a TOUGH thing to do. It is especially difficult because when you share your true self, you share your God given gifts ... and the world will be convicted by the light inside of you... and seek to put out the light that convicts it of its own darkness.
So it takes strength and a confidence in God's love to move forward into the world with your own person in the open. It takes a faith in your own God given gifts, and yet another thing we realized together last night.
It takes a servant's heart.
You can't walk around showing people your talents and expect them to love you for it -- because you're convicting them. So why do it? Because you are a servant to God and you are doing to help them find their own gifts to bring to the Lord.
That servant's heart also protects you from some of the pain -- because when you are despised for having talents -- or fearful that you are in love with your own talents -- you can retreat to the fact that you are doing this for service to others. If you are a servant to those that challenge you, you can overcome the pain.
If you become full of yourself because of your talents -- you can remember that they are with you solely to serve God by serving others.
So -- you've got talents -- we all do. Discover your talents -- use them to serve God by serving others -- use them to help others find their own talents -- and call them to serve God by serving others by helping others find their talents.
You will store treasures uncountable for yourself in heaven, friend.
