eed to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is

Toward the end of the parable of the talents, we read about what happened to the servant who had received only one talent. The Bible says, "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.'" (Matthew 25:24-27)

Even though this servant understood that his Master expected him to increase the talent that he had been given, and even though the Master had only given him what he could handle, the servant had hidden the talent. His fear had caused him to disobey his Master, and now he was trying to push the blame off onto his Master by accusing Him of being a "hard man."

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if this servant had used the talent and lost it? It's interesting that Jesus never tells us. And as much as I don't like to draw conclusions from things that the Bible doesn't say, this almost seems to indicate that they only way for us to fail is if we let fear make our decisions, and if we don't use what we've been given.

Once we understand that God has given us exactly what He knows we can handle, and that He expects us to take full advantage of the skills, opportunities, resources, and wisdom that are available to us, we then must have the faith to act. God has given us everything we need to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is n

and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.'" (Matthew 25:24-27)

Even though this servant understood that his Master expected him to increase the talent that he had been given, and even though the Master had only given him what he could handle, the servant had hidden the talent. His fear had caused him to disobey his Master, and now he was trying to push the blame off onto his Master by accusing Him of being a "hard man."

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if this servant had used the talent and lost it? It's interesting that Jesus never tells us. And as much as I don't like to draw conclusions from things that the Bible doesn't say, this almost seems to indicate that they only way for us to fail is if we let fear make our decisions, and if we don't use what we've been given.

Once we understand that God has given us exactly what He knows we can handle, and that He expects us to take full advantage of the skills, opportunities, resources, and wisdom that are available to us, we then must have the faith to act. God has given us everything we need to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is

given him what he could handle, the servant had hidden the talent. His fear had caused him to disobey his Master, and now he was trying to push the blame off onto his Master by accusing Him of being a "hard man."

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if this servant had used the talent and lost it? It's interesting that Jesus never tells us. And as much as I don't like to draw conclusions from things that the Bible doesn't say, this almost seems to indicate that they only way for us to fail is if we let fear make our decisions, and if we don't use what we've been given.

Once we understand that God has given us exactly what He knows we can handle, and that He expects us to take full advantage of the skills, opportunities, resources, and wisdom that are available to us, we then must have the faith to act. God has given us everything we need to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is

doesn't say, this almost seems to indicate that they only way for us to fail is if we let fear make our decisions, and if we don't use what we've been given.

Once we understand that God has given us exactly what He knows we can handle, and that He expects us to take full advantage of the skills, opportunities, resources, and wisdom that are available to us, we then must have the faith to act. God has given us everything we need to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is

eed to succeed, everything we need in order to be prosperous, but we have to believe it.

The time will come when we will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with His goods. And we don't want to be like this lazy servant who knew that he was supposed to multiply his Master's talents, but didn't.

By looking at what the Master tells this servant, we learn an important lesson about money: Money that is not in circulation cannot increase, and is worthless.

When we take money and turn it into possessions, we can no longer trade with it and increase it. The secret to the success that the other two servants had was that they had used the money. They did business with the money, they took it into the market and traded with it, and were able to multiply it.

If the servant with the single talent had at least left the money in circulation, even if he had left the management of that money up to other people (the bank), his money would have increased. It would not have doubled, but it would have grown.

In Proverbs 24:27 says, "Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house."

In America we tend to get this backwards. Rather than making sure that our field is planted and producing wealth for us, we start building our houses, usually with borrowed money. The result is that we then become slaves to our lenders (Proverbs 22:7), and we end up giving all our income to pay for a rented lifestyle.

But if we make building wealth our first priority, we will then be able to enjoy that wealth and be able to "build our house." We will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors, even have possessions, because we have been faithful with the goods we receive from God.