Article July 18, 1936 Issue

Using Our "Talents"

[Written Especially for Young People]

DAVID HELLYER

Familiar to all Bible lovers is the parable of Jesus concerning the master who gave each of his three servants a gift of talents, or money. To one servant the master gave five talents, to another two, and to a third one talent. He then departed upon a journey. Immediately the man to whom had been given the five talents "traded with the same," and soon doubled the amount. The man with two talents did likewise. But the third man, who had received but one coin, hid his money in the ground. Upon returning and learning what they had done with his gift, the master praised the first two, saying to each of them, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." But to the third, Scripture records that the master said, "Thou wicked and slothful servant," and ordered his one talent to be taken from him and given to him who had the ten talents, saying, "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."

A young student, in working out a problem of lack, recently found the following statement by Mary Baker Eddy quite illuminating. She writes on page 323 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "In order to apprehend more, we must put into practice what we already know." Very much encouraged by this statement, the student readily detected certain habits of thinking that were either negative or nonproductive. He realized that he was expecting more than he was actually ready to accept and use, and was therefore ungrateful for blessings which were already his. This discovery gave him a fresh outlook, and served to lift a depressing pall of lack which had bothered him for some time. Refreshed, he saw that only by using what was already his could he open the way for increased supply.

Continuing his study, he found a statement further to enlighten the clouded sense: "If 'faithful over a few things,' we shall be made rulers over many; but the one unused talent decays and is lost" (ibid., p. 323). For some time the student pondered over these words, wondering how they could be applied to his particular case. Finally it became clear to him that the "one unused talent" in this particular instance was his lack of application of those facts of Christian Science which he already knew, and which had been so lovingly imparted to him by his parents and Sunday school teachers. He had been taught many of the beautiful facts of being, but had been careless or indolent in the actual application and use of these "talents" in his daily life. Thus it had proved difficult for him to demonstrate increased supply.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Using Our "Talents"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access