Jesus told a story of the king who was travelling into a far-off country. He gathered his three servants and distributed to them talents of gold. To the first man he gave five talents, to the next two, and then one.   Just one talent was worth about twenty years of wages. Two of them went and traded with them and doubled their talents and the master was very pleased and gave them an even greater opportunity.

But one took his gift and buried it to keep it safe and when he gave an account to the master, he was in trouble. Perhaps he was lazy or offended that he was given the least amount. Perhaps he was a socialist and could not celebrate his masters increasing wealth but out of his own mouth, he gives us his excuse. “ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours”( Mat 25:25)   He was too scared to have a go. He thought if I do something with the talent, it might not work. He played it too safe.  We get the idea that if the servant had of come to the boss and said “Sorry Master, I invested your talents but it didn’t work and I lost it," the king would still have been happy.  The bottom line of this parable is: one thing the King can't stand is someone doing nothing with what they’ve been given.  Even the master took a risk by giving his talents to others.

Friend, the worst thing you can do is nothing. The greatest danger in life is not a failure but faithlessness.  You cannot change the talent or gift you have been given but you can increase it by using it. What gift, talent, passion, idea or desire from God have you hidden in the ground?  It’s not too late to dig it up and take a risk.