multiplication.
There’s a story Jesus told that I haven’t been able to get away from.
A man was leaving on a journey, so before he left, he entrusted his property to his servants. To one he gave five talents. To another, two. To another, one. But there’s a part of the story I think is really easy to read right past.
He gave to each according to his ability.
That matters to me.
This wasn’t some random distribution. It wasn’t favoritism. The master knew his servants. He knew what he had entrusted to each of them, and he knew what each was capable of carrying.
The one who was given five went out and put them to work. He made five more. The one who was given two did the same thing and made two more.
And then there was the one.
He took what had been entrusted to him and buried it.
When the master returned, he settled accounts with them.
The first servant came back with ten. The second came back with four. And both heard essentially the same thing: Well done. You were faithful with what I gave you.
That part gets me too.
The guy who started with two wasn't compared to the guy who started with five.
He wasn't asked why he didn't come back with ten.
He was accountable for what he had been given.
And then the servant who had been given one came forward. He hadn't lost it. He hadn't squandered it. He hadn't blown it on something stupid. He had protected it. He had kept it safe.
He handed the master back exactly what he'd been given. And that was the problem.
He buried it.
I have thought about this story so much because for most of my life I think I was looking at what I'd been given through the wrong set of rules.
What am I supposed to be? Which thing should I choose? Which thing makes the most money? Which thing makes the most sense? Which thing will people understand? Which thing can I build a business around? Which thing fits together nicely enough that somebody looking at my life won't wonder what in the world I'm doing?
And I don't want to live like that anymore. Because I don't know what God intends to multiply.
I know He gave me a lot of different things.
I can see things other people don't see. I can build businesses and brands and ideas. I can take something complicated and find the thing underneath it. I can make things beautiful. I can photograph people. I can find an old discarded thing and immediately see what it could become. I love plants and homes and spaces and making things grow. I can teach. I can write. I can talk through something until I find the connection I couldn't see when I started. I can ask questions. I can make things. I can help other people see differently.
Some of those things I've used for decades. Some I've barely touched. Some I've made a lot of money with. Some have never made me a dime.
I have no idea which of them God wants to multiply.
That's the point. I don't think it's my job to decide that based entirely on what this world tells me is valuable. I don't want to stand before God someday holding something He put in me thirty years ago and realize I kept it buried because I couldn't figure out how it fit my brand.
I don't want to tell Him I didn't use something because it wasn't practical. Or profitable. Or because somebody told me to niche down. Or because I was afraid I'd confuse people. Or because I looked around at somebody else's five and decided my two weren't worth putting to work. Or, maybe worse, because I became so attached to the things that had already multiplied that I stopped paying attention to everything else He had placed in my hands.
So I'm changing the way I live.
I'm putting things into motion. Not because I believe every single thing I love is supposed to become a business. Not because I think everything I try is going to work. And definitely not because I have some master plan tying all of this together.
I don't.
I mean, I have the Creator, and I'm pretty sure He'll stitch together whatever I throw out there, but His plans aren't delivered in a blueprint, an outline, or a brand guide.
You just have to trust Him enough to put what you've been given into motion and expect Him to lead the way.
I'm doing it because I would rather put what I've been given to work and find out what God chooses to multiply than bury half of myself while I try to predict the answer.
Maybe something grows.
Maybe something doesn't.
Maybe one gift creates income, and another serves one person.
Maybe something I think is small becomes enormous.
Maybe something I've spent twenty-five years doing was preparing me for something I can't even see yet.
Maybe I put something into the world thinking I know what it's for, and God multiplies it in a completely different direction.
I don't know. But I know what I don't want. I don't want to bury it.
So if you watch me over the next few years and wonder why I'm doing so many different things, that's why. I'm done trying to decide which pieces of me deserve to be used. I'm going to use what I've been given. I'm going to put it to work.
And I'm going to let God handle the multiplication.
Read it for yourself.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story about a master who leaves on a journey and entrusts his property to three servants.
There are two details in the story that I keep coming back to.
First, he didn't give each servant the same amount. He entrusted it to them according to their ability. And second, he didn't hand the first two servants a blueprint for how to multiply it.
He entrusted it to them, and they put it to work.
The third servant tells us exactly what stopped him.
He was afraid.
That connection is hard for me to ignore.
The thing he had been entrusted with wasn't lost because he tried and failed.
It wasn't lost at all. He protected it. He buried it. And when the master returned, he gave back exactly what he'd received.
The Parable of the Bags of Gold
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.
17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.
18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.
29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Multiplication is the Outcome of Obedience.
That is what I take from this.
If I believe GOD gave me what I have, then being grateful for it isn’t enough. Recognizing it isn’t enough. Protecting it isn’t enough. I am responsible for what I do with what has been placed in my hands.
And Scripture reinforces that idea. In 1 Peter 4:10, we’re told to use whatever gift we have received to serve others as faithful stewards of GOD’s grace. In Romans 12, Paul talks about people having different gifts and then gets incredibly practical about what to do with them.
If it’s serving, serve. If it’s teaching, teach. If it’s encouraging, encourage. If it’s giving, give. If it’s leading, lead.
Use what you have.
You don’t have to believe what I believe to understand.
I believe what I have came from God. You may believe something completely different about where your abilities, interests, and opportunities came from. But regardless of where you believe they came from, you have things in your hands right now.
You have abilities, experience, knowledge, resources, interests, and ideas. You’ve learned things because of what you’ve lived through. There are probably things you do so naturally that you’ve never stopped to consider that somebody else finds them difficult. There may be things people consistently come to you for that you’ve dismissed because they don’t seem important enough to call a gift.
Some of those things you’re already using. Some you probably aren’t. And some may have been sitting untouched for years because you haven’t figured out what they’re supposed to become.
Maybe you don’t need to know yet.
Maybe the first question isn’t what they’re supposed to become.
Maybe it’s simply:
What am I doing with what I already have?
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