This downloadable worksheet is made to accompany our Parable short video series, you can find the videos here.
You can download the worksheet here.
In today’s parable, we meet three servant who are given a task while their master is away. To use the money he has given them and make more for him. Two of the servants use what he gave them wisely and end up making double the money they were given. But the other servant hides his, worrying that he’ll lose it, and in the end, he has nothing to offer his master apart from what he had been given at the start.
Now we are not all given big sums of money, but all of us have talents – things that we are good at. Christians believe that these things are a gift from God, and they could be all sorts of things like writing, baking, making music, dancing, understanding science or running.
Take a moment to think.
What talents do you have?
We all know that just being talented at something isn’t enough if you want to really get good at it. Even the most talented musicians need to practice or they won’t get better, and the most talented sportspeople won’t break records unless they train hard. A talent is like that first set of money the master gave to his servants – something to work on and invest in until it grows!
The third servant had money to start with too – but rather than use it, he squirrels it away. And in the end he loses it. When we decide not to practice a skill or take time working on our talents, we run the risk of finding them hard to do or even forgetting how to do them altogether. If I don’t practice singing, I will find it hard to hit the high notes in a song, or if I don’t stretch regularly, I could pull my muscles when playing tennis.
Today’s parable encouraged us to use what we have been given wisely. To work on the talents we have been born with, and to learn new skills too! And when we do that, we can use those talents and skills to love the people around us.
Why not encourage someone today by sharing any talents
you have spotted in their life.
Perhaps you could ask them to help you think about your talents too.
And then together, talk about how you can both encourage each other to grow
and get even better at the things that you can do.