The story of the talents is one of the most oft quoted parables Jesus taught. We all shake our heads at the foolishness of the man with only one talent who went and buried it in the ground. I mean, really, how dumb can you be?
The truth is, sometimes I’m kind of jealous of that guy. After all, he had it pretty easy. He only had one talent he was responsible for and if he’d just spent a little time and effort at developing it the Master would have praised him for his efforts.
But what about those of us with several talents? That can be a heavy responsibility. If the master was upset with the guy with just one undeveloped talent, how is he going to feel about someone with many talents who doesn’t make the most of them?
Have you ever heard someone called a “Jack of all trades – master of none.” That pretty well describes me. I’ve been blessed (or cursed, depending on your perspective) with several different talents. I can write and speak fairly well. I’m pretty good at drawing and I’m starting to paint a little. I can design houses and build the cabinets for them. I create intarsia and do a little carving now and then. I’m pretty good at lots of things, but not great at any of them.
The problem for me and for any one with a talent for something, whether we have ten talents or only one, is a lack of focus. We’re busy doing so many things that we never reach our full potential in any of them. We need to choose one thing and focus on it till we master it, then move on.
The same holds true in our spiritual lives. It’s easy to get so distracted by all the things we need to do that we lose sight of the one thing that really matters, our relationship with Jesus Christ. To have true success in life, “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2 God’s Word translation).
Where is your focus today? Fix your eyes on Jesus and everything else will fall into focus too.
God bless and have a wonderful day.