Comparing and competing

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey."

Matthew 25:14-15

The parable is about  a lot more than I want to point out here, of course, but for a long time I read this parable without understanding why each servant was given a different number of talents. There's a little phrase in verse 15 which says that what the Master distributed to each servant was "according to his own ability." This snippet reveals the problem with desiring to have the spiritual gifts and calling of another Christian (and that happens, a lot, if we're honest).

The fact is we each have or have been given different abilities. It does us no good to go around trying (1) to compare to someone who is called to do something that is bigger or more visible than we are, or (2) to desire something easier. What we are assigned is what our ability prepares and enables us to do. It is not a matter of being loved or valued any less by God, neither is He unfair and partial. If we would realize that God doesn't judge or reward us based on the size of the task, but on our obedience to do what was required with what He measured out to us, we would live a life that can be rewarded wonderfully by God. When we don't understand this we may end up like the bitter servant in this parable who was only given one talent...and ended up losing his relationship with the Master. Go read about this sometime soon, and then be encouraged to serve God wholeheartedly in whatever task is given to you!