Talents
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His sake, and ever going to Him for rest. Whatever our work, God
is honored by wholehearted, cheerful service. He is pleased when
we take up our duties with gratitude, rejoicing that we are accounted
worthy to be co-laborers with Him.
The Talent Removed
Upon the slothful servant the sentence was, “Take therefore the
talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” Here, as
in the reward of the faithful worker, is indicated not merely the reward
at the final judgment but the gradual process of retribution in this life.
As in the natural, so in the spiritual world: every power unused will
weaken and decay. Activity is the law of life; idleness is death. “The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”
1
Corinthians 12:7
. Employed to bless others, his gifts increase. Shut
up to self-serving they diminish, and are finally withdrawn. He who
refuses to impart that which he has received will at last find that he has
nothing to give. He is consenting to a process that surely dwarfs and
finally destroys the faculties of the soul.
Let none suppose that they can live a life of selfishness, and then,
having served their own interests, enter into the joy of their Lord. In
the joy of unselfish love they could not participate. They would not
be fitted for the heavenly courts. They could not appreciate the pure
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atmosphere of love that pervades heaven. The voices of the angels and
the music of their harps would not satisfy them. To their minds the
science of heaven would be as an enigma.
In the great judgment day those who have not worked for Christ,
those who have drifted along, carrying no responsibility, thinking of
themselves, pleasing themselves, will be placed by the Judge of all the
earth with those who did evil. They receive the same condemnation.
Many who profess to be Christians neglect the claims of God, and
yet they do not feel that in this there is any wrong. They know that
the blasphemer, the murderer, the adulterer, deserves punishment; but
as for them, they enjoy the services of religion. They love to hear
the gospel preached, and therefore they think themselves Christians.
Though they have spent their lives in caring for themselves, they will
be as much surprised as was the unfaithful servant in the parable to
hear the sentence, “Take the talent from him.” Like the Jews, they