October 11 – Use Every Talent

Hope for Today: A Daily Devotion from Reasons for Hope*Jesus

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“Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30

Look at this man, to whom his Lord had given one talent! He could not bear the thought of using his talent according to the will of him from whom he had it, and therefore he chose to make himself happier in a way of his own. “Lord,” said he, “I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” But his lord, having convicted him out of his own mouth, dispatched him with this sentence: “Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.” Here you see what this man secured, by not acting wholly according to his Lord’s will. It was, according to his own account, a life of murmuring and discontent, “I knew you,” said he, “to be a hard man.” It was a life of fears and apprehensions: “I was,” said he, “afraid.” It was a life of vain labors and fruitless travails: “I … went,” said he, “and hid your talent.” And after having been a while the sport of foolish passions, tormenting fears, and fruitless labors, he is rewarded with darkness, eternal weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

Look at the man with his five talents! Here you see a man wholly intent on improving his talents; his work prospers in his hand; the blessing of five becomes the blessing of ten talents, and he is received with a “Well done, good and faithful servant … enter into the joy of your lord.”

Lord, give me the grace to use every talent, every day, for Your glory and praise.

Devotion by Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky (1690—1774)