In this study we looked at the Parable of the Talents and how Christ uses this story to reveal something essential about the Christian life. God gives every person real gifts, and these gifts are meant to be offered back to Him for His glory. The servants who received five and two talents acted with trust. They put their gifts to work. The servant with one talent hid his gift out of fear and mistrust. Christ shows us that spiritual paralysis is often rooted in a false image of God. The one who fears God wrongly never learns to love Him, and never learns to serve.

The deeper point of the parable is that every believer has a calling, and none of our gifts are too small to matter. Whether a person can teach, build, cook, fix, encourage, organize, draw, lead, or simply listen, every gift becomes holy when it is offered to others for the sake of ...