Using What You've Got

Who doesn't want to be the biggest, baddest or brightest? I'm #1, baby! Watch any sporting event and what you will see at some point during the game is that somebody is going to look at the camera and stick up that index finger and demonstrate to the world that even though their team is 5-11 or getting beat by three scores - they are indeed the best! Something is wrong though, isn't there? Can it be true that everybody is #1? Probably not. But what are the options? Are fans of the most lowly team supposed to hold up all of their fingers and show that they are #27? Again, probably not. We most definitely live in a "just win, baby" culture. But what happens when we don't win?
I think it can also be said that we live in a very beauty-obsessed world. Everywhere you look in the media, every commercial, it seems, is full of beautiful people. Apparently, only perfect people go to the grocery store or out to eat or to pretty much anywhere. Take one trip to any of those places and look around. You will see differently, won't you? Unless a woman is flawless, she isn't considered to be all that she can be.
What seems to develop as a result of both scenarios is that you have too many people who simple give up. They stop rooting for a team when they are anything less than the best. We see people gain negative self-images when what they see in the mirror doesn't quite compare with what they see on TV. Are we to simply quit or hide if we aren't the best?
Matthew 25:14-30 details the Parable of the Talents. In it, a master is heading out on a long journey. Before he goes, he leaves money with his slaves. He gives out the money according to the abilities of the slaves. One gets five, one two and another gets one. Notice something here. Not everyone gets the same amount of money. That might seem unfair - oh, we love to immediately jump to that statement, don't we? If things don't go my way, how quickly do I say, "that's not fair". I am quick to go there, but remember, what in life really is fair?
At any rate, the story continues. After the master leaves, the slaves get to work. The one who received five talents went out and made five more. The one who received two went out and made two more. Here's the interesting part: the one who received one went and dug a hole and put his talent in there. We are told that after a "long time" the master returned. Upon his return, he desires to settle up accounts. He then begins to call in the slaves.
The slave who was given five talents comes in first. He quickly states to the master that not only did he have the original five talents to give back, but he also had five more to give. What an overachiever, huh? There's your brightest and best. In response, the master gives this reply, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many more, enter into the joy of your master." (v.21)
Next, the slave who was given two talents enters. Just as quickly as the first, this servant proclaims to his master that not only did he have those earlier two talents to give back but that he also had two more! Pretty fine stuff there! The master, in somewhat surprising fashion, says the very same thing to this slave, a mid-line but solid worker, that he did to the first slave.
Finally, the slave who was given the one talent enters. This slave begins by offering some flowery language. You can almost picture this exchange in your mind's eye. Perhaps the slave stands up and begins to put on a display. He straightens his posture. He clears his throat quickly and puts on the most serious demeanor that he can. "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid you talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours." (vv. 24-25)
This seems like a very fair statement. The slave knew he didn't have much to lose. He didn't have a ton to begin with. The last thing that he wanted to do was to return with nothing. At least, it might appear that this is the case. What the master says in reply to this servant is most telling. He says, "you wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? The you ought to have invested my money with the bakers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest... as for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (v. 26 &30).
Whoa! Wait a minute, what is going on here! The slave thinks they are just being frugal or that since they don't add up to the best that they should just hold on to what they have, at the very least. Yet, it is the master who shows that this is an unacceptable position. The slave was never expected to BE the best. He was expected to do something, anything with what he was given. And there you have it: the moral of the parable. Regardless of what or how much you are given by God, you are expected to use it as well as you can. To do nothing with your talent, to think you have nothing to offer or even worse, to know you at least have something to offer and to hold on to that talent is simply a recipe for disaster.
In this parable, the master never expects the slave who received one talent to be the biggest, the brightest, #1. The master simply expected that servant to use what they were given. I think that this is an important lesson to learn in life. I know that I have, for far too long, maybe even recently, been much closer in action to that third slave than I ever should be.
How about you? Are you using whatever you have been given for the coming glory of your master? Remember, the point here is not that we are required to be the biggest and brightest. We are to use whatever it is that we have been given. To not to do so is simply an affront to our master. The next question then is this. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to use whatever talent or talents that you have been given for the glory of your master, God? Or are you going to live in fear, stating how unfair it is that you aren't the best and simply hide what it is that you have? You can't do that, I can't do that and expect our master to accept that answer. Use what you've got, even today for the glory of God.