Reading Matthew 25 as a Unit<\/a>.<\/p>\nJesus stated, “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away<\/i>” (Matthew 25:29). It is a statement that has been given several times (Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18; 19:26). When people use what they have, they will gain; but the one who doesn’t use even the little he has will lose everything. You see this in the world. Rich people tend to get richer, but poor people lose what they have (Proverbs 10:15). The point is not that the world is unfair but that there is a reason some people are wealthy and some people are poor and those reasons tend to extend the differences. We have all heard of people who have won or inherited great wealth but in a few years are right back to poverty. Jesus’s point isn’t about physical wealth, but spiritual wealth. The same differences occur (Hebrews 5:12-14).<\/p>\n
God gives each of us different abilities, some more than others. The importance is not who received the most ability; instead, notice that the man with two talents received as much praise as the man with five talents. The point is how well we make use of the abilities that we have to be productive for the Lord. There are some who are so fearful of God’s wrath that they figure if they just deliver themselves to the Lord at the end that will be enough. However, Jesus has constantly warned that we must be productive people (John 15:1-8; Luke 13:6-9; Matthew 21:19).<\/p>\n
You are focusing on your limitations. Focus instead on using what you do have to the best of your ability to serve God and your fellow men.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\nThank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. I looked up the scriptures you cited and prayed that I use what I have to serve God and others.\nI just finished reading about reading Matt 25 as a Unit. That helped me see that it should be with our whole heart that we serve God and others, whatever our circumstances, we need to persevere, be productive, out of compassion and love. Thank you so much. I was looking at my circumstances from the wrong perspective, I am blessed to do for others with what I have.\nThank you again for your service to God and others, I truly appreciate your loving assistance.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What are the talents in a Christian’s life today? How can we multiply them to be good and faithful servants of our Lord Jesus? If we are limited to a good degree by our health, how can we be careful to not become like the servant who had one talent and didn’t use it?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[54,462],"class_list":["post-30307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-obedience","tag-serving-others"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66002,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/using-our-god-given-abilities\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":0},"title":"Using Our God-Given Abilities","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bret Miller Think on These Things, Vol 55, No. 1, January-March 2024 In Matthew 24, Jesus is asked about the signs of the end of the age. Jesus then spoke for a long time on many different subjects, answering what the kingdom of heaven would be like in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-the-faithful-and-wise-servant-in-matthew-2545-47\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":1},"title":"Who is the faithful and wise servant in Matthew 25:45-47?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The King James Version says at\u00a0Matthew 24:45-47, \"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reading-matthew-25-as-a-unit\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":2},"title":"Reading Matthew 25 as a Unit","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Through the years, God has managed to hammer a few insights about the Bible into my thick head. One of them is that in the gospels, the order of stories matters. It\u2019s common for the Evangelist to arrange material so that a text offers commentary on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/The_wise_and_the_foolish_virgin_by_Jan_Adam_Kruseman-242x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":83268,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-joys-of-involvement\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":3},"title":"The Joys of Involvement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Have you noticed? The happiest Christians are highly involved in the Lord's work. Why is this so? There is joy in using our God-given talents as He intended for the good of others. \"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20816,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-gives-us-talent-then-can-we-not-use-that-talent-to-worship-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":4},"title":"If God gives us talent, then can we not use that talent to worship God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I witness the following conversation between two brothers and it went like this: Brother A stated, \"We are not to worship or praise God on this side of the cross with instrumental music.\"\u00a0 Brother A went on to state \"This applies to the first day of the week during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-to-know-to-do-good-but-not-do-it-it-is-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":30307,"position":5},"title":"What does it mean to know to do good, but not do it, it is sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does it mean in James 4:17, that \"he that knoweth to do good, but doeth it not, to him it is sin\"?\u00a0 I've heard it explained in two ways.\u00a0 One, that he knows how to live a moral life but neglects to do so sins.\u00a0 But this seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}