Most of us are waiting.
Waiting to feel qualified. Waiting for the bigger platform. Waiting for the right credentials, the right season, the right confirmation that we're finally ready to step into the thing we suspect we were made to do.
So we wait. And while we wait, we bury it.
Maybe not literally. Most of us don't dig holes in the ground. But we bury our gifts in the soil of "not yet" – not yet ready, not yet qualified, not yet the kind of person who does that sort of thing. And we tell ourselves we're being responsible. Realistic. Wise.
Jesus told a story about that exact instinct. And the master in the story was not impressed.
The Surprise in the Story#
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), a master entrusts three servants with resources – five talents to one, two to another, one to the third – and goes on a journey. When he returns, he settles accounts.
Here's the part most of us skim past. The first two servants did not start with the same amount. They did not produce the same outcome. One doubled five into ten. The other doubled two into four. By any modern productivity metric, one is the bigger winner.
The master praises them with the exact same words.
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
Not, "Well done, you exceeded expectations." Not, "Well done, you outperformed the other guy."
Faithful.
The praise wasn't for the size of the return. It was for what they did with what they'd been given. The master was looking for faithfulness. The metric we keep applying to ourselves – success, scale, recognition – was never the metric in the story.
What the Third Servant Reveals#
The third servant is the one most of us actually relate to, even if we'd never say so out loud.
He didn't squander his talent. He didn't lose it. He buried it. He kept it safe. And his explanation was simple: I was afraid.
His fear of failing the master is the very thing that produced the failure he was trying to avoid.
Sit with that for a second.
We tell ourselves that holding back is the responsible choice. That waiting until we feel ready is wisdom. That keeping our heads down and our gifts unused is the safer path. The parable says the opposite. Playing it safe is its own kind of unfaithfulness.
You were not created in the Image of God to bury what He placed in you. You were created to use it. Not perfectly. Not heroically. Not at a scale that impresses anyone. Faithfully.
The Question Worth Sitting With#
Here's the question I want to leave you with. Carry it into this week if nothing else from this post sticks:
What would you attempt if you knew God cared more about your faithfulness than your results?
Not what would you achieve. Not what would you build. Not what would impress anyone watching.
What would you attempt?
That question doesn't require a five-year plan. It doesn't require you to feel ready. It only asks that you stop burying what is already in your hands.
I unpack this whole conversation – the parable, the fear, and the freedom on the other side of it – in a free ebook called The Parable of Your Purpose. Twenty pages. Pastoral, not preachy. Written for the person who suspects there's something more they were created for, but isn't sure where to begin.
Download The Parable of Your Purpose — free ebook via form below 👇
You are not purposeless. You are not unqualified. You are not a spectator. You are an Image-bearer with something in your hands and a calling to match.
Take the next step. Use it.
