History Books in 90 Days: 2 Chronicles 6-8
Matthew 25:28-29 (NIV); Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For
everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken from him.
These verses come out of a sobering parable Jesus told to His disciples. A master went on a journey
but before he left, he entrusted his servants with his property and varying amounts of money. To one
he gave 5 talents (one talent was the equivalent of about twenty year’s wages) to another 2 and to
the third servant he gave 1. They did not know when the master would return, and so the first two
servants worked hard to increase the money they’d been given. The third servant, however, had
misconceptions about his master, and in fear and laziness he hid his talent in the ground. Upon return,
the master commended the two servants who had worked hard and cursed the one who had been so
lazy.
Though this parable is about money, the deeper focus is stewardship in general. What are we doing
with the things we have been given? Whether it is our money, our time, our possessions, our gifting –
how are we handling these things? Are we acting out of entitlement, forgetting that our Master was the
One who entrusted us with these things in the first place? Or are we working hard to wisely steward
these things, using them to serve others and thus to serve our Master?
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Meditate on the warning in the verses. Has God ever removed gifts from you because you have
been a poor steward? Has He blessed you because you’ve stewarded well? Thank God for the
lessons He has taught you. Thank Him that He has your best in mind.
2. Ask God to show you if you have hidden anything in the ground. In these areas of time and
fellowship, talents, and money and possessions, is there anything that you have buried and
hidden because of fear or a misconception of God? Heed the warning of the verse, and ask God
how you can work to multiply what you’ve been given.
3. Ask God to show you if there is an area in your life where He wants to tell you, “Well done!”
