You get out of it , what you put into it

The parable of talents Matthew 25:14-30

Whether you are a religious person or not, this parable has a good life lesson to learn from.

In this parable, The "Parable of the Talents", in Matthew 25:14–30 tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second had received two, and the third received only one. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the talents he entrusted to them. The first and the second servants explain that they each put their talents to work, and have doubled the value of the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded:

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. — Matthew 25:23

The third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, burying it in the ground, and was punished by his master.

A deeper look at this parable reveals that the reward, and the punishment was not for the increase or profits, or the lack of profits, sure at first glance it may seem as if it was, however if the work was done the profits would not have happened in the first place, the reward, and punishment both were rewarded for the effort. You see 2 people but forth the effort, they tried to the best of their ability, the third out of fear did nothing. The third guy who did nothing , did not think to ask for help, he did ask for advice, he did nothing.

I have consulted and coached some business owners, or people that wanted to start a business, and they simply could not seem to get it off the ground, so to speak. In most cases they had viable business ideas, a good product or service, and a big dream. Those are all fine qualities to have when starting out. These budding entrepreneurs came from different backgrounds, religions, all had different levels of education, some had the financial freedom to chase their dream, others not so much. There was one thing that they all had in common, they had no idea what starting a business or better yet, what being a business owner meant. They were clueless to what starting a business meant and the work that was involved. The believed in the " if you build it, they will come philosophy. In this day and age this philosophy is not only out dated, it is dangerous to subscribe to. Not only is there competition out there , there is thing called the internet. You HAVE to do work to get customers, clients victors what ever you want to call them. They believed their job as a business owner, from day one, was to hire people (without having 1 single customer) get an office, come into work every morning, check the bank balance, their email and then go home. They did not put in 1 ounce of effort, not one. They buried their dream in the backyard, and it went nowhere. They were rewarded for their effort.

I have talked to and consulted with business owners, pastors and individuals who simply refuse to change the circumstances, try a new product, idea or start their business simply out of fear. Sometimes the fear is justified, change is always a frightful thing to experience, fear of failure, the reasons are endless, however if you never take that first step, you will never get to where you want to be.

Business owners do not have a monopoly on this mentality, pastors have it to. This is brought to the surface more with church planting. Pastors have the mentality that says " If God called me to do this , He will grow it." I believe He will , just like He will grow your business. The catch is that YOU still have to do the work. You have to teach, you have to reach, you have to train, and you have to actually invite people to come. You have to teach your congregation to invite people. This parable is proof that yes God will give us a task, an assignment or whatever you want to call it, and He will reward us for doing the work. The key phrase is " doing the work "

I recently told a good friend of mine, that starting a business is like taking a trip, you first have to figure out where you are going, then start in that direction. Its like taking a vacation, if you do not know where you are going, you will never leave the driveway when this happens fear wins.

With anything in life, you get exactly what you put into it, in equal proportions