Day 312: Consumed by Comparison (Matthew 25:14-15)

¹⁴ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (Matthew 25:14-15)

Through the Bible: Matthew 25

When we read the Parable of the Talents, we can get sidetracked by the detail of one servant getting five talents, one getting two talents, and the third servant receiving only one. “That’s not fair!” we want to shout. Why doesn’t every servant get an equal portion?

Don’t miss the fact that a single talent was an exorbitant sum. A talent was about seventy-five pounds of gold, or the equivalent of twenty years wages. As I write this, the price of gold is about $2000 per ounce. So even the “one talent” servant was given almost $2.5 million in today’s dollars! Tragically, he seemed to be so preoccupied with how little he received in comparison to the other two servants that he did nothing with his gift.

We live in a culture consumed with comparison. How does our house compare to the others on our street? How does my car compare to the others in the parking lot? How do the vacation pictures on my social media page compare to my friends’?

Sadly, pastors and churches are no different. We hear of a church that seems to be “blowing and going” on the other side of town, and we get jealous. We think, “Well, if our church had their budget, then we’d probably be getting those kinds of numbers too.”

When we think this way, we miss the reality of how much God has blessed us. I would wish for every pastor that complains about what his church in America doesn’t have to spend a week in Rwanda worshiping under a tree. Or to attend a house church in China, meeting in secret behind blacked-out windows.

The third servant did nothing with two and a half million dollars, simply because he didn’t have as much as someone else. Oh, God, let me not be so consumed by comparison that I can’t count the blessings you’ve given me!

Take a moment right now to thank God for all He has given you, and don’t worry about what you think He hasn’t given you.

Father, thank you. For everything, thank you.