It is always instructive to note likenesses between similar passages in the Bible. In Matthew 25 and Luke 19 we have two similar parables. In each parable a rich man, about to go on a journey, calls his servants to him and entrusts them with a part of his wealth, expecting them to invest it for him in his absence. In each parable the man returns and calls his servants to account for their stewardship. And from these two parables we learn lessons about the riches our Master has entrusted to us in His absence, and the account we will one day give of our stewardship.
It is sometimes even more interesting to notice the differences. And in these two parables there is a significant difference that ought not to be overlooked. In Matthew 25 the servants are entrusted with differing amounts of talents: five, two, and one. But in Luke 19 each servant is given the same amount to invest: one pound each.
Although we can rightly apply these two parables to different kinds of stewardship, let’s think about how each one applies to our stewardship of time. For time is a kind of wealth. We even speak of time in terms of money: making time, saving time, spending time, investing time, redeeming time. Time is a precious resource which the Lord has entrusted to us that we may use it for Him. How we spend it reveals what is most important to us.
The Parable of the Talents: Differing Riches
After returning from an evening of witnessing, a friend asked D. L. Moody about that evening’s occurrences. Moody replied, “Praise God. There were three-and-a-half conversions tonight.”
“Three-and-a-half?” his friend inquired, perplexed, “You must mean three adults and one child.”
Mr. Moody replied, “No. Three children and one adult. For the one adult only has half his life left to give, but the children have their whole lives ahead of them.”
Obviously some of us have been given more years with which to serve the Lord. And the Lord expects us to make the most of whatever time He has granted to us.
We notice in the parable that the servant entrusted with the five talents invested them and earned five more talents for his master. The servant entrusted with the two talents only earned two more talents. And yet both of those servants were given the same reward—word for word. From this we learn two things.
First, this teaches us that the Lord is just. The servant entrusted with two talents was not expected to earn five. The Lord does not expect that a believer who is saved later in life will be able to accomplish as much as a believer saved as a child and had 70 years in which to serve Him. Provided that we faithfully use whatever years the Lord has given us, His evaluation of us will righteously and graciously account for the difference in our opportunities given.
But justice cuts both ways, and so we notice secondly that the servant entrusted with five talents was not expected to earn only two. The Lord expects a return on every talent—every year, every month, every day. And so if we are privileged to have been saved early in life, we cannot expect the Lord to be pleased if we fritter away our early years. This is a challenge to all of us, but the younger we are, the greater the challenge.
We live in a time when low standards—even regarding service for the Saviour—mean that virtually little is expected of young people. If a young believer manages to reach marriage having been somewhat regular in attendance at meetings while simultaneously avoiding gross immorality, they are considered a successful Christian. No fruit is required. No investment for the Master is needed.
Surely the parable of the talents teaches us otherwise! The Lord does not save children or young people so that they can give Him a couple of hours a week and spend the rest of their time in a manner indistinguishable from a moral unbeliever. The Lord saves children and young people so that they might be rescued not only from spiritual death but also from a wasted life. He came that we might have life more abundantly (Jn. 10:10).
Are you a young believer? Then don’t fall into the trap of planning to serve the Lord eventually. Serve Him today! This will be costly, as the Enemy will oppose you with all of the discouragements and temptations that he can muster. It will mean foregoing many of the social activities that most other Christian young people (even your friends) partake in. Not because those activities are evil, but simply because devoting countless hours to recreation will leave you with little time left to serve the Lord.
It will mean working, praying, and studying while other Christians are resting and playing. It will mean risking embarrassment and attempting tasks that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable, while others stay in their comfort zone. But our Lord Jesus will abundantly reward such sacrifice and service—not just in eternity, but in the joy of a life of purpose now.
The Parable of the Pounds: Equal Riches
The second parable reminds us that there are some riches the Lord gives to believers in identical amounts. We see this when we think of time in hours instead of years. Each believer may have a different number of days and months and years with which to serve the Lord, but we all have exactly the same number of hours each day.
In this parable we see that although each servant was given one pound, some did more with that one pound than others. And isn’t that true of our days? This week the Lord will give every one of us 168 hours. And yet some Christians will accomplish a great deal for the Lord with them, while others will accomplish very little.
Do you want a good way to forecast how much you will accomplish for Christ in the next week? Consider how much you accomplished for Him last week. And the week before. It is fine to have good intentions about the week ahead.
But we probably had those same good intentions a week ago. What did they amount to? Unless we take definite steps, it is unlikely that this week’s good intentions will yield more results than last week’s. Using our time wisely will not happen by accident. We must discipline ourselves daily to spend our time serving the Saviour.
Now, we must be careful when we speak of assessing what was accomplished for the Lord in any given time. We don’t mean what people think we accomplished, for much Christian service occurs in private. So this is not an invitation to evaluate the service of others. Rather it is a challenge to humbly and honestly consider before the Lord how it is that we are spending our days. Are we eagerly, diligently, purposefully serving Him? Or have we been distracted by the busyness of daily life and the “harmless” pleasures the world offers in abundance?
One Last Likeness
This brings us to one last similarity between the parables. In each parable there was a servant who squandered his stewardship. And in each parable the Lord had very direct words for such a servant.
Sadly it is possible for a Christian to waste both types of time which the Lord grants us: the hours and the years. The Enemy has a massive arsenal of time-wasters and is happy to custom-design another one for us if none of the common ones tempt us. It’s no good congratulating ourselves on all the ways in which we don’t waste time, especially if the only reason we don’t indulge in those actions is that they don’t appeal to us. What we need to do if we are to grow as Christians is to identify the specific ways in which we personally waste time, commit those to the Lord, and take steps to eliminate them.
Wasting time isn’t necessarily intentional. In fact, a Christian can spend his entire Christian life intending to serve the Lord…tomorrow. But that’s another thing about time; there always seems to be another tomorrow. And so devotion and service can be postponed an entire lifetime, one day at a time.
The day is coming, however, when we will step out of time, where there are no more tomorrows. Our last opportunity to serve Him this side of glory will pass away. The Bible calls it simply “the time.” We are to spend our days laying up treasures for “the time” (1 Tim. 6:19). We are to watch and pray for we do not know when “the time” is (Mk. 13:33). We are to pass no final judgments before “the time,” for it is then that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things and manifest the counsels of our hearts (1 Cor. 4:5).
No one will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and wish they’d spent more time watching TV. In truth we already know which activities we will one day wish we had spent our time on. So why not start now? Why not invest today and every day, this hour and every hour, for our Master. He is coming back from His journey soon.