Daily Word

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 shows that we have received different gifts from the Lord. Some have received greater capacity and ability than others and can accomplish more, others have received less and can accomplish less.

But that is not what counts, only our faithfulness towards the Lord; in other words, that out of love for Him we have done what we are called to and have been given the ability to do - not how ‘great’ our service has been or how ‘much’ we have accomplished.

In the world, the big stars are admired and celebrated: the fantastic sports stars, the prodigies among singers and musicians, the geniuses among researchers and scientists, etc.

Unfortunately, this has also rubbed off on us Christians. We admire and flock around the great and amazing ministries and love to listen to exciting preachers.

The same was true about the disciples of Jesus. Several times we read that they quarrelled among themselves as to who among them could be considered the greatest.

Jesus once brought out a little child and said: "Unless you are converted and become genuine, dependent and unassuming like little children, you have no place in the kingdom of God." Another time He declared that the greatest in His circle is the least, the one who makes himself the slave of the others, just as He Himself did.

The great thing is to sacrifice oneself out of love for others, not to impress them.

The same problem existed in the first church. Paul was well aware of this and warned the faithful against comparing different preachers with each other and choosing their favourites.

He becomes really ironic when he urges the believers to beware of the "eminent" apostles who compared themselves to others and tried to gather people around themselves.

Paul himself was a very gifted speaker and was afraid that his ability would obscure Christ, so that his hearers would be impressed by him instead of being drawn to Christ.

Let's drop all comparison and just seek Jesus - just be faithful to Him, no matter what gifts and what task we have been given!