Many of us know the story of the men who were given “talents” in Matthew chapter 25. I know now that “talents” were a form of currency when the Bible was written. I didn’t always know that though. I took this story as being quite literal, and “talents” to me were, your ability to paint, or be a great speaker, or a great athlete.
Matthew 25
14 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
My talent has always been my ability to sing. From the time I could talk, I sang, from a very young age I’ve been very affected by music. When I was 3 or 4 years old my mom was cleaning one day and had left MTV on. She came out of the bedroom to find me planted in front of the TV crying….when she asked me what was wrong, I said “it’s just so pretty mom”….the song was Time After Time by Cindy Lauper…and I still cry all the time when I’m moved by music. A few years ago I had the oportunity to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert….I started crying 5 minutes into the performance, and don’t think I stopped until we were in the car….it was just SO good!
I sang all through elementary, middle, and high school, and then majored in musical theater in college. I couldn’t go anywhere in my small town without people asking what production I was in, or where I’d be singing next. But, I started suffering from anxiety when it came time for me to get on stage. Over the course of my 2nd year in college, it got worse and worse to the point that I decided I could no longer perform. I ended up moving out of the town where I would have to explain myself to a place where I only knew one family. I didn’t sing publicly for 5 years. I was afraid so I hid my talent…
24 Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
When I moved to Oklahoma, and came to Destiny for the first time, one of the reasons I loved it so much was because of the praise and worship team. Something in me stirred…I knew God was calling me to use the talent He’d given me…but I was still scared. Iman, who was the assistant to the worship pastor at the time, approached me after a service and asked if I was going to try out for the team…I’d ‘just happened’ to sit behind him in a service, not knowing who he was…I bashfully said I had thought about it, and he gave me an audition packet. That’s when I remembered this parable. I started feeling very convicted about burying the talent that I knew was given to me for a reason. So, approximately 3 or 4 weeks after I’d been given the packet, when Iman pretty much forced me come into the Hospitality room after service one night, I auditioned. I was PETRIFIED. I forgot the words….I messed up the part…I stopped singing altogether at one point…and I’d been listening to those 2 songs for almost a month! Thankfully, they could see through the nerves and let me on the team anyway.
26 His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
For me, the interest made off of my talent is every time a person can enter in to worship because of what God is doing through me. I still get nervous…I still think I’m going to forget the words most of the time, but I don’t want to be face to face with God one day and have him be disappointed and call me “A lazy servant”, so I use my talent, for His glory, out of obiedience, and because of the Joy I have found through worshiping my Saviour.
We all have talents, what matters is how we use them!
