2186 Parable of the Three Servants
2186 Parable of the Three Servants  
Podcast: BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women
Published On: Tue Aug 25 2026
Description: If there’s one of these stories that Jesus told that has most impacted my life, it is this one. It’s a guide for daily living and it will meet you exactly where you are every day of your life. The moral of the story – JUST BE FAITHFUL. What happens when you are faithful with little? God sees you can be trusted with more. What happens when you aren’t faithful with little? God knows he simply can’t give you more. Whatever you’re doing with what you’ve already been given determines what you’re given next. The story Jesus tells is about money, but I assure you this is a lesson on more than just finances. This is about your time. This is about your talent. This is about your treasures. Today, God is asking each of his girls to take an inventory and measure what we’ve been doing with what we’ve been given. Maybe you’ll find what I’ve found … it’s time to step up and do more with what I already have before I ask for one more thing. Okay, so it’s story time and it’s a long story. Grab your Bible and read along. I’ll insert a few details along the way to help you understand the story Jesus is telling us. Matthew 25: 14-30 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. Some translations will read ‘talents’ and that means money. My translation reads silver, again meaning money. How much money are we talking about? Answer: A ridiculous amount of money. All 3 of them received MUCH. One talent or bag was around 75 pounds of silver. To put that into perspective, the smallest measure of money given here was about 16 to 20 years of daily wages. The story Jesus is telling isn’t about the dollar amount – everyone received a lot from their master, even the one who received the least. The story is about faithfulness with what is given. The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. What do you think digging a hole in the ground and hiding away what you’ve been given would look like? Wouldn’t it look like wasting it? Wouldn’t it look like doing nothing with it? Wouldn’t it look like playing it safe? Yes. And wouldn’t it sometimes look like waiting until you’re more qualified, more confident, more ready? Wouldn’t it look like comparing what you have to what someone else has and deciding yours isn’t enough? Wouldn’t it look like being so afraid of losing what you’ve been given that you never actually use it? A buried gift is simply an unused gift. It’s the thing you’ve been entrusted with, but you’ve done absolutely nothing with it. It’s the talent to sing, but you’re too afraid to raise your voice for the One who gave it to you. It’s the money to give, but you’re too concerned about what they might do with it. It’s the story you’ve lived, but you’re too ashamed to tell it because you don’t want anyone to know where you’ve been. It’s the opportunity in front of you, but you’re too afraid to fail. It’s the idea God put in your heart, but you’ve talked yourself out of it before you’ve ever taken the first step. It’s the time you have, but you’ve spent it scrolling and staying busy instead of investing it in what matters. It’s the people God has placed around you, but you’re so distracted by your own life that you never stop long enough to pour into theirs. It’s the calling you’ve sensed, but you’ve buried it under a thousand excuses: “I’m too old. I’m too young. I’m not qualified. I’m not ready. Someone else could do it better.” Are you the one who has buried what you’ve been given? You haven’t invested it. You haven’t put it to work. You haven’t used it to build or grow or impact. You’ve simply buried it. Waiting. Sometimes that’s exactly how we waste what God has given us. Not by doing something terrible with it—just by doing nothing with it. Girl, do you have a hole in the ground where your calling is buried? You’ve been given so much, but you’re not doing anything with it. Not really. And you know it. What has God placed in your hands that you’ve stopped using. Look at your time, your talents and your treasures – what’s sitting stagnant in your life? What opportunity, gift, resource, idea, story, or calling have you buried because fear convinced you it was safer underground? Well, what happens when God has given us something but we have refused to use it? What happens when we’re not faithful with what we’ve already been given? Here comes the rest of the story … After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ The master is God, and when the master returns he calls for each of us to give an account of how we used everything he has given us. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been given or how much you’ve been given – what matters is what you’ve done with it. The master wants to know. It matters! If you’ve been given 40 years of life – what have you done with those 40 years? If you’ve been given 2 children – what have you done with those 2 children? If you’ve been given a weekly paycheck of $1000 – what have you done with that pay? If you’ve been given a 2,000 square foot house – what have you done with that house? If you’ve been given mercy and grace from past mistakes – what have you done with that mercy and grace? If you’ve been given health – what have you done with that body that can move and go? You never see the master asking a servant to produce the same as what another servant produced. He’s not comparing. The master is asking each one to produce with precisely what they’ve been given. He expected each one to do something with what they had. It’s so easy for us to look at someone with extreme wealth and assume we would be so ridiculously generous if we were in their position. Oh, the good we would do with their money! But God isn’t fooled! Who you are with a $40,000 salary is who you would be with a $40 million dollar salary. More money just makes you more of who you already are. Without children it’s easy to paint a fantasy world of how we would sing sweet songs as we cooked breakfast for our little angels. Girl, if you’re not singing songs while you feed the dog, you certainly wouldn’t sing cooking for ungrateful creatures who refuse to eat. Isn’t it fun to fantasize about what you would do with a big new house with all that storage space? Oh to have a butler’s pantry! Oh mercy, walk in closets in every room! Built in storage in the garage. But do you know what you would do with it – the same exact thing you’re doing with a smaller house. If you’re complaining about this one, you would complain about that one. If you’re messy with this one, you would be messy with the next one. If you’ve overfilled this one with junk, you would overfill the next one with bigger junk. Have you ever thought – well if I could sing like her I would use it for God in big ways? Uh huh – well girl, you can cook – are you cooking for God? You can talk to a rock – are you talking to others for God? You can clean – are you cleaning that church building for God? Really, let’s check ourselves. So, let’s get to the point of the story Jesus is telling. The point isn’t to make you feel guilty about what you haven’t done. The point is to wake you up to what you still CAN do. Because here’s the beautiful thing about this story: You are not standing at the end of your story. You’re standing in the middle of it. And if you’ve buried something, you can dig it up now! If you’ve been sitting on something, you can put it to work today. If you’ve been waiting, you can start right here. The master hasn’t returned YET – but he may soon. And he’ll want to know what you’ve done with what he’s given you. You don’t have to have five bags. You don’t have to be the most talented, the most educated, the wealthiest, the prettiest, the healthiest, or the most qualified. You just have to be faithful with what is already in your hands. Stop looking at what she has. Stop wishing you had her life, her resources, her opportunities, her gifts, her energy, her story or her butt. That’s not your assignment. Your assignment is your life. Your people. Your resources. Your opportunities. Your gifts. Your story. Your time. And maybe you’ve been waiting for God to give you more when He’s been waiting for you to do something with what He’s already given you. Today, let’s stop asking for more and instead ask this – “God, what have you already given me that I’m not using?” Then let’s dig it up. Use it. Invest it. Give it. Share it. Build with it. Love with it. Serve with it. Do something with it. Because one day, the Master is coming back. And when He does, I don’t want to stand before Him with a list of reasons why I was afraid. I want to stand there with open hands and say, “You gave me this—and I gave it everything I had. I did everything I could with it God. It hasn’t been perfect, but I sure tried.” And I want to hear those words every one of us longs to hear: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Notice what the Master celebrates. He doesn’t say, “Well done, my successful servant.” He doesn’t say, “Well done, my impressive servant.” He says, “Well done, my GOOD and FAITHFUL servant.” That’s the goal. Not bigger. Not better. Not more impressive. Faithful. JUST BE FAITHFUL. Faithful with the little. Faithful with the much. Faithful when nobody is watching. Faithful when it feels insignificant. Faithful when you’re tired. Faithful when you’re afraid. Faithful with the time, the talent, the treasure, the opportunity, and the life God has placed in your hands. Girl, you have been given so much. Don’t bury it. Take what you’ve been given and put it to work. And let’s live the rest of our lives with one simple prayer: “God, everything I have is Yours. Show me what You’ve put in my hands – and give me the courage to be faithful with it.” That’s it. That’s the assignment. JUST. BE. FAITHFUL. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com