The Creator provides many gifts to his servants, and the faithfulness of the servant is shown in how they use and share that gift to the glory of God.

Pastor John Anderson of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in New Richmond, Wisconsin recently addressed parishioners through a piece he shared in the bulletin regarding the gospel meditation on the Parable of the Talents.

“While God’s gift of self is realized in the gifts of faith, hope and love, they are not meant to be solely for personal benefit,” Anderson quoted from the piece. “They are intended to be shared and are at the heart of Jesus’ blueprint for happiness, the Beatitudes.”

There is great confidence in the faithful demonstrated by the gifts God to His people, yet the piece from Anderson questions whether Christians always return that same confidence in God.

“We often go the extra mile and put in the additional effort when it comes to those concerns closest to us: Our families, friends, careers, home and securities,” Anderson quoted from the piece. “But when it comes to things that are not as close to us, we can become lax and less conscientious.”

Fear and distrust ultimately can never be the source of any service done in God’s kingdom, the piece states. 

“Tending to God’s treasure requires a great deal of focus and persistent hard work,” Anderson quoted from the piece. “It demands that I see the bigger picture, God’s picture, in which self-sacrifice is a given as we labor for the establishment of God’s kingdom, God’s vision.”

That investment of the gifts that God gives serves not only to demonstrate the goodness and greatness of God, but to edify his children, according to the shared piece. 

“When we properly invest God’s greatest gift, His most treasured possession, we invest in the wellbeing of all of our brothers and sisters and the world in which we live,” Anderson quoted from the piece.