Matthew 25:14-30 - by Don Neuendorf
[The kingdom of heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent...
First, you need to make a deliberate effort to de-link your brain from that word "talents". It shifts our emphasis to volunteering, when Jesus is using gold as his illustration. Certainly our time is included here by extension, but it begins with the gold, and that's appropriate because, as Martin Luther once said, the pocketbook is the last part of a man to be converted...
And indeed, whenever we think of our pocketbook what do we think of? As Christians we think of how much we would be willing or able to share with the Lord or use for his kingdom. And already we've lost it. We've changed the terms of the discussion.
Jesus' said these were servants. They had nothing of their own. All they had was from the Lord. And the big purse they were given to use was not theirs. None of it.
So you go on a business trip. It's to be a buying trip - you are going to bring back the best stuff for the boss to invest in. He hands you an envelope full of $100 bills. You are to do your buying out of it, and you can draw your expenses from it. What's the first question? "How much should I spend on the product?" Don't be ridiculous! You would expect to spend everything possible on the product, wouldn't you? After all, only the money spend on the investment will produce anything for the boss.
No, your first question - the question that will come up as soon as you leave the office and go to book a plane ticket or call a taxi or hotel, is "how much of this money can I spend on myself?" What is reasonable to use for my expenses?
God gave us a big bag of gold that includes our lifetime earnings - our inheritance (not only what our parents pass along, but the inheritance of a prosperous nation and economy and freedom that others invested in for us). It includes our bodies, our abilities, our training, good friends, faithful neighbors, good and pious rulers, etc. etc. etc.
How much is it reasonable to spend for the sake of our comfort and enjoyment? Our boss is not a miser. He's very generous. And some of what we use the "money" for at home is also very much in his service. He asks us to raise up children to live serve him here and to live eternally with him too. But... have we struck the right balance?
Now that is a challenging question. We'll each answer it differently, but I think it will get to the point much quicker than the 10% or so that we might consider tossing to God. (Thinking that it was really bold to do so.)