Guest Post: Put on your Shades

Hello! I’m Ms. Latina and I blog at Latina On a Mission. I met Jaime sometime ago and I’m glad I did. You see, I’m a new Christian, full of so many questions that For His Glory has answered.

That being said I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised when Jaime asked if I would write a post. I did not feel up to it, but I did as she asked and prayed. I felt God told me I should; however, I wrote and rewrote so many posts I lost count! In fact, if Jaime was here right now and not on vacation (Lucky lady!), she would tell you she had to send me a few reminders!

During my prayers, the parable that kept coming to mind was “The Parable of the Talents”(Matthew 25: 14-30). If you’re not familiar with the parable, below is a brief synopsis.

A man has 3 servants. Since he’s going on a trip, he gives each servant “talents”, based on their abilities. To one he gives 5 talents, to another he gives 2 and to the 3rd and last servant he gives 1 talent. After some time, the man returns. The servants go to the man, their master, to let him know what happened while he was gone. The first two servants tell the man that they have doubled their “talents” by working diligently. The man is overjoyed by their hard work, exclaiming, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' The last servant, unlike the others, did not work hard. In fact, he buried his “talent”! “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. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” The man was so incensed, he took away the last servant’s one talent and gave it to the one who had ten, stating “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

We are all given a “talent” or “talents” at birth, each according to our abilities, just as the servants were given theirs, however, so many of us choose to bury it like the last servant. We bury these talents for various reasons. Perhaps we were told we would not amount to much, or we’re scared of failing and rather not take the chance. Or maybe we want to fit in and don’t want to disappoint those around us. Don’t forget the economy! The unemployment rate is getting higher everyday and bills just keep mounting up don’t they? Why take a chance? Ahhh there are a million and one reasons we can come up with to bury our “talent”, but that’s the problem! We’re not seeing what He sees! We need to put on our Jesus glasses (very chic and best of all… FREE) then step out in faith, knowing that whatever “talent” we have received, whatever God has placed in our hearts, was done with foreknowledge. He does not start something without finishing it! So why would He, the Alpha and the Omega, give you a gift, without providing you with the means to use it?

The parable seemed appropriate since I was ready to bury my “talent”, my light, just as the last servant did, when Jaime asked me to write this post. Not because I thought my Master was unjust, far from it, but out of fear. I was scared of failing Him. Yet as the days went by, I realized that fear and faith cannot co-exist!

Knowing this, step out in faith today, just don’t forget your shades :) For the Master will return one day and you too will have to give an account of your “talent”!



P.S. (from Jaime) If you subscribe to my e-mail reader you got a blog post yesterday about the Playroom of Hope. The post was old (sometimes my feedburner randomly grabs old posts), thus the contest that was mentioned in the blog is no longer running. However, it just so turned out that Ms. Latina, just wrote a post sponsoring the Playroom of Hope called Inspirational Sunday: Love can Move a Mountain. She said will match up to $100 of donated funds towards the Playroom. So if you are interested in donating towards the cause this would be a great way to double your $. Thank you Ms. Latina