A Parable for Thought – Sunday, December 29, 1985
We are all creatures of our God and King, and this is the right time of year to acknowledge it. It’s time to give thanks for the good things of life…to resolve to become more worthy recipients…to examine priorities and objectives…to resolve problems and improve personal circumstances.
The Lord has given each of us special strengths and abilities. Many are embryonic, needing to be developed. Some we are not even aware of, because we prefer the familiar activities we know best. But God wants us to seek our hidden talents and use them, lest they wither and die from lack of use.
Recall the Savior’s well-known parable, as told in Matthew: “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one…”1 Both he who had five and he who had two doubled their talents, and the Lord said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”2 But the one who did nothing with his talent had it taken away.
We must develop our God-given talents. We must explore and try new things. It may be in the pursuit of professional opportunity. Or we may polish our talents in religious endeavors. Or simply exercise our skills for our own enjoyment of fulfillment. But, whatever our talents, we must develop them or lose them.
A physical skill will become awkward if we don’t keep it sharp. If we fail to use any muscle, that muscle will grow flabby. If we never use that foreign language with which we had a brief encounter, we will soon forget even the little we knew. If we read nothing but trivial books and listen to nothing but trivial music, we will lose interest in good books and good music.
And what is true of physical and aesthetic and intellectual talents is also true of spiritual talents such as faith, and love, and friendship. If we fail to listen for and accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then we will soon become quite unable to recognize the prompting when it comes. That is what happened to the Scribes and Pharisees. They had so long refused God’s counsel that they were unable to recognize it.
And so, as we set goals for another year, let us remember the parable of the talents and apply that message to our new endeavors. As Tennyson’s text for a New Year’s anthem suggests, let us ring out the old and ring in the new…”Ring happy bells across the snow…(and) ring in the true.”
1New Testament, Matthew 25:15
2New Testament, Matthew 25:21
December 29, 1985
Broadcast Number 2,941