From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.
Thoughts regarding this verse swim around my mind. For a long time, I have felt vaguely different from the people around me. I can’t really explain it, but it’s always been as if I held extra considerations that others never did…
When I was in first grade, I worried about academic expectations. In middle school, spiritual torment over the weight of my sin consumed me. High school had me planning how I would serve God in my future career. Though, once I finally went off to university, I realized that the world was a big place with people far more capable and prepared than myself. Simultaneously, I realized that talent existed.
…
A friend and I invented a formula for talent. It’s rather simple:
Success = CoX times CoE times CoP times CoL
“Wait, where’s talent?” you might ask. “This looks like nonsense.”
It’s not. Let me explain.
My friend disagrees with me very, very much regarding the subject of talent. He believes that talent is genetic. A person’s intelligence, life, career, and success can be explained through a genetic cocktail that influences that person’s growth throughout life. He does not believe it’s totally deterministic, though he does believe it is mostly deterministic.
“Okay,” you say, frowning. “That still doesn’t explain your formula.”
“Hm, yes.” I answer. I smile. “I still have a bit more to tell you.”
See, talent is not a determining force. It’s much more akin to a metaphoric wind. It can blow you into certain paths, and it can push you forward as you run. However, the wind can never prevent you from travelling certain roads (A tornado could, but let’s not deal with that. The metaphor doesn’t extend all the way, you know.)
Our latest discoveries in education indicate that, for example, your academic success has far more to do with what you believe and how you are encouraged than genetic traits.
My friend and I argued back and forth one day until we came up with the above formula to settle our differences. In the formula “Co” stands for a coefficient. Assume that “Co” of L equals two. Then, for every increase in “L” (which stands for luck, chance, or divine ordinance depending on how you see it), you will see a twofold increase in success.
“Oooohhh”, you exclaim as you begin to realize.
Here’s the formula explained fully:
- L equals Luck
- P equals Personality
- E equals Environment
- X is Talent. We did not choose T for talent because, most accurately, talent is more of an unknown x-factor than what the world sees as “talent”.
Ultimately, your belief on whether talent is more genetically or environmentally determined hinges on how large the coefficient of X is relative to the coefficient of E. If the coefficient of X is larger than the coefficient of E, you believe talent outweighs environment. Otherwise, you believe environment is as important or more important than talent.
I think you can guess what I’d argue. (Remember the wind.)
…
My talents happen to concentrate in areas that the world happens to view as “intelligence”. That’s how I see it.
They do not make me better.
Nor do they make me more valuable.
I am not greater than anyone.
For a long time, I never wanted to admit this. I suppose I felt that even acknowledging that I had some modicum of something meant that I was prideful.
That’s not true. Instead, hiding my gifts is insulting. It’s insulting to my own creativity and value. It’s insulting to those who helped me develop. Most dreadfully, it’s insulting to the one who created me.
Pride is glorying in myself for what I have. I want let what I have reflect glory onto God.
So, yes, I admit it. I have talents that are God-given, and I can’t claim them for myself. Sure—I don’t believe that my talent is genetically determined. However, I never had the chance to determine my family, my academic environment, nor my access to any resource that helped me grow as a person. I chose to take advantage of many things I had in my repertoire, but even my repertoire—my environment—was not my own. There was a hand guiding and gifting along the way. God rigged the entire formula.
…
The price of talent frightens me.
My mind is powerful and trained. It is a gift. I am great at focusing over extremely long stretches of time, applying my knowledge to new subjects to learn new skills, and doing independent research to become even more efficient.
That makes me really scared.
It means I also must steward my mind with the utmost care and attention. Furthermore, I must use it for the service of others.
Recently, Jesus’s teachings have struck me as very straightforward. Sometimes they’re tricky and confusing, yes, but other times they’re actually rather obvious. Luke 12:41-48 is an example of a strikingly obvious lesson. I’ll focus in on the ending:
[…T]hat servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.
Not only am I aware of my gifts, I also grew up as a Christian knowing that I ought to serve God with what I have. If I do not do this, I live in direct disobedience to the Word.
If I do not serve God and others in my academic career, I sin,
If I waste my time, and therefore my mind, on endless entertainment, I sin,
And if my mind goes astray because of what I do to it?
I sin.
…
One of my greatest challenges in life is self-deception. It is greatly difficult for me to do the thing that I know to be right. Instead, I make excuses to do what I want. This has led me on many destructive paths that I wish I could take back, erase like misused formulas on a math exam.
Frankly, I am easily distracted chasing after the wrong relationships. I have valued approval of others so much that my mind fixates on getting to know that person or getting to be friends with those people such that I forget what God directs me toward.
Yup, this is my vice. Forget the mission. Gain the love and glory.
Every time I focus on having these relationships instead of serving others, it cripples me. I start acting to gain approval, date the person I want to date, or prove myself through how “smart” and “capable” I am. This is wrong. It is to know my Master’s will and yet not do it.
The good I can do while keeping my mind sharp and focused on the right goals is far greater than that which I can do while my mind is bound, drunk on its own dreams.
My mind goes astray in this way more than I want to admit. It is scary.
Sometimes, I’m tempted to become bitter, especially, over the fact that I am single. The fact that I don’t “get” a romantic relationship has made me angry in the past, but, frankly, this teaching makes me want to suck it up. Who am I to complain that I don’t have even more than I am already blessed with? Furthermore, if this is what God wants from me—to be live in singleness and to keep my mind in check regardless—then I should do exactly that.
My purpose is serving God. That is wonderful, and it’s what I am meant for. Through this, I can be apart of restoring the world to how God designed it to be: perfect.
…
Thanks be to God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that covers my failure to live up to the man I ought to be. Nevertheless, I allow this to be a challenge to you and I. Every living, breathing human being has some treasure from Heaven. Your gift might not be academic prowess like mine, but that doesn’t make it less important or effective.
We should step up to glorify God with everything that we have. Not because there is a threat of hell otherwise, rather, because it is greatly beneficial for everyone around us. It is selfish to hold these benefits for ourselves.
May God make our efforts fruitful.
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