Are you among those who admire great men/women who lived an impactful life, or are there men/women (aged or young) you admire so much because of their impact on humanity and society?
Aside from your admiration, do you also wish to live a life worth admirable and impactful like theirs?
As you read or observe these great people you admire, you wonder how one can possess such intelligence, great attitude, the aura of grace, and even multi-talented.
If you lack understanding, you may conclude by saying God was partial during His creation, or you may blame your background, race, etc., or sing the song of the excuse-giving choir by shifting blame to another for the cause of your inability to rise above mediocrity.
As Bible students, we must be conversant with the parable of the talents. This parable centres on three characters.
The first person was given talents. He traded with it and gained more talents. The same applies to the second person, but the third never used his one talent.
What is Talent?
Talent is simply a natural aptitude or skill.
Talent is an intellectual ability, mental endowment or capacity, skill for accomplishment, or a rare gift naturally embedded in one.
When one lacks vision, talent(s) will always be buried.
To understand where we want ourselves to be in life, we must have a clear vision of our life. Vision gives direction and a glimpse over our life to make our goals and purpose become a reality. So, once you understand that vision clarifies purpose, life will become more straightforward and meaningful. In such a circumstance, talent(s)/gift(s) cannot be buried.
The first two persons in the parable knew they had a purpose: to please their lord and satisfy him with joy when he returned. They thought within themselves how they could achieve this. They got direction (vision) on how to go about their mission, to trade with their talents.
Brainstorming and life assessment made them put all their talents to work.
In one of John L. Mason’s books, he wrote, and I quote, “Mediocrity is a region bound on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by a lack of vision.”
It is mediocrity and lack of vision that can make a man inferior, idle, and wishes to be like another forgetting they have something uniquely incredible in them.
In trading(using) your talent(s) comes the fruits of ideas, expansion, productivity, progress, joy, and fulfilment.
Watch how these two people traded their talents and gained(acquired/discovered) more while maximizing all their talents. See the joy as they communicated with their lord what they did with their talents.
This tells us that they expanded, progressed, and experienced great joy in service.
Are you there and think you are empty?
Are you there feeling worthless?
Are you there feeling shy or inferior?
You think and feel all these negative vibes because;
????You lack knowledge of the attributes of God that He never created anyone void of talents, even if it’s one talent.
????You don’t know your talent or put your talent into use. This is dangerous.
????You think others’ talent(s) is/are more superior to yours. That’s a complex inferiority mindset.
????Your associates are negative, idle, or people with inferior mindsets. This can influence you so severely.
Your growth, expansion, and productivity lies in the trading(using) of your talent(s).
We all have talent(s) embedded in us; if you’ve not discovered yours, you will.
Our next article will be centred on discovering your talent(s).
