Manna Moments

⏱️3-4 min read

The Weight of One Talent: A Call to Multiply

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’” Matthew 25:24-25

The parable of the talents tells of a master who, before traveling, entrusts his servants with his wealth. A similar account appears in Luke 19. In Matthew’s version, the amounts are staggering—five talents, two talents, and one talent—each talent worth 6,000 denarii, or roughly 16–20 years of wages. The master’s trust in his servants is unmistakable.

The first two servants invest what they’ve been given and see it multiply. The last servant, however, buries his talent in the ground. In Luke’s account, he hides a mina—about three months’ wages—wrapped in a soudarion. When the master returns, the faithful servants are rewarded, while the fearful one is sharply rebuked.

So what does this mean for us? God has placed extraordinary resources within each of us. Even those who feel they have “the least” have been entrusted with far more than they realize. Our calling remains the same: to be fruitful, to steward well, and to multiply what God has placed in our hands—our gifts, our time, our finances, and every opportunity within our God-given boundaries.

Yet the enemy works hard to keep us from our purpose. One tactic is to diminish the value of what God has deposited in us. Both parables show that even the smallest portion was still a massive gift. When we believe we have nothing to offer, self-pity sets in, leading to stagnation and stunted growth. Isolation becomes the enemy’s tool to keep us from stepping forward.

Fear is another powerful weapon. The last servant acted out of fear—fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of making things worse. While caution has its place, it should never override obedience. Throughout Scripture—Abraham, Gideon, Rahab, Naomi, Peter, Paul—we see God calling people out of comfort and into courage.

These destructive influences lead to one outcome: death. In Matthew, the talent is buried like a corpse. In Luke, the mina is wrapped in a soudarion—a cloth used for sweat by laborers, implying unwillingness to work, and in Hebrew tradition, used to wrap the head of the dead. In both cases, the entrusted resource is treated as lifeless, unable to grow or multiply.

But this is not the story God intends for us. What He places in us is meant to live and multiply. When we recognize the value of His deposit and step forward in faith, even small acts of obedience become seeds of abundance.

Lord, open our eyes to the abundance You’ve placed within us. Strengthen us with courage, hope, and faith to step forward and steward well what You’ve entrusted to us. May we be fruitful and multiply according to the grace You’ve given to each of us, until You return.