Matthew 25: 14-30 The Parable of the Talents (ESV)
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[c] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[d] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[e] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
A couple of weeks ago, I was in the kitchen one Sunday morning trying to clean up before going to church. I had this urge to reorganize my beloved teacup collection and God asked me why I still had the broken glass? I looked up at the windowsill. God said that I had brokenness next to the promise. I understood that once brokenness is healed, you cannot hold onto the symbols of it. That is what I had been doing. God had healed what I saw as broken, yet I was holding onto those things that I needed to discard. I threw the glass away.
Last Sunday, the Word of God came to me that first I had to get what God has for me and to let God use me how He wants to use me. The second prophecy came that He does all things well concerning me. God went on to tell me to take this Word and use it to heal my past. The brokenness that He showed me the week before. The thing that I had sitting beside my promise.
Let me explain the picture you see above as it was what was sitting in my windowsill. The glass is the broken thing, the symbol of those things that came to distract me from the promise, from my calling, from my gifts, from who God said I was. It was the second glass that has been broken in my house within 2 months. I held onto it because it broke in the dishwasher, and I wanted to find all the pieces and throw them away together. The bottle of marbles are the distractions or trials and tribulations with the teacup as the crowning achievement. All three things symbolize something separately, but when put together they work to give me a message that my past is forgiven, forgotten, healed. And what I must look forward to are the promises of God.
Some may ask why the teacup, well, let’s go back to what I was reorganizing a couple of weeks ago. Some collect magnets, I collect teacups. I love them. Don’t know why, I just do. This one was a gift from a former co-worker. Its straight from England with its own saucer and different than any other teacup in my cabinet. It has a special place and God used it to show me what He had in store for me (but that’s a private communication between Him and me). God took my love of teacups and multiplied it with His Word to bring forth the promise. Got that? No? Let me say it this way. My promise is not in the bottle. It’s not the marbles. The marbles are the trials and tribulations. The teacup is the promise of what I desire that best/overtake/conquer those things (the marbles) sent to hinder me. But let me warn some of your reading, not all the marbles were sent by the devil. Some were my own doing and others were sent by God. My job was to get dominion over them. However, the issue wasn’t the trials and tribulations. I was. Because although the promise had been spoken, I couldn’t see it because I wouldn’t let go of the brokenness (the glass).
In this season, I understand firstly that it is a new season of life, secondly that I have to move as God says, and thirdly that I must take the talents He bestowed upon me to move as He says. I cannot be the stagnation amid the well. I have to be in the flow of the Living Water. We as Christians can no longer sit stagnant waiting on God when He has given us what we need. Recognize the brokenness, discard it and Move!!!
So, I ask you what God asked me – why do you still have the broken glass??
Be A Blessing and Not Just Blessed
- Nakya