the wonder of focus

Today's post begins with a Scripture passage from Matthew 25:14-30.

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For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness: in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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​As I read this passage recently two words caught my attention in a way I’d never really noticed before. Those words were “afraid” and “entrusted”.

The third servant in the story was was clearly operating out of a mindset of fear. He was afraid and he hid what was given to him. Sounds a lot like Adam and Eve who found themselves hiding after sin entered the world.

Why was this third servant living in this place of fear? You might say that that wasn’t his fault, because he wasn’t given as much so in a way it would be easier for him to lose everything. The second servant really didn’t have much more than the third servant though, and yet he approached things very differently.

I don’t know that I’ve ever really questioned that difference too much. Two were good stewards. The third one wasn’t. We should be like the first two. Seems simple enough, but why did the third guy make such a different decision?

He was afraid. He wanted to protect what he had because he was afraid of losing it. It seems like his focus was on what would happen to him if he lost what belonged to the master.

But the word that seems pretty important here is a word used by both of the first two servants. They both used the word “entrusted”. They both refer to the money the master gave them as having been “entrusted” to them. This word is nowhere to be found in the third servant’s explanation.

Their next words seem to shed just a little more light on the mindset difference. The first two servants both say to their master “See, I have gained…more talents” while the third servant says “See, you have what is yours.” The first two viewed what they had been given as theirs to do something with. They saw that they had been trusted to make use of the money in a way that honored their master. The third servant couldn’t seem to see past the fact that the money ultimately didn’t belong to him and that something bad might happen to him if he did anything with it.

Toward the end of this passage the master says: “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance”. Sometimes that seems kind of harsh. How are people supposed to get anything if only those who have get more? But then that word abundance caught my eye. It reminded me of John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

The third servant didn’t seem to recognize what he had been given. He only saw what he had to lose. Sometimes it is so easy for the “thief” to get us to focus on what we don’t have or what we could lose and we end up losing sight of what we have been given and how we have been trusted. It’s the difference between living with a scarcity mindset that tells us that there will never be enough, and living the abundant life that God wants us to live.

We each have to choose what we are going to focus on. Will we focus on protecting what we’ve been given, being too afraid to lose it to the point we won’t accept and use it. Or will we focus on what we’ve been given, what we’ve been trusted with, and do something with it to honor the One who entrusted it. The choice is yours today. What have you been trusted with? Will you open your eyes and recognize it and begin to use it to honor God?