God isn't grading on a curve.

Greetings,

Last week we sat with the question of how much is enough. This week I want to push one layer deeper — because defining enough is only half the work. The other half is what you do with what you’ve already been given.

There’s a parable Jesus told that doesn’t let you off easily.

A master prepares to leave on a long journey. Before he goes he entrusts his wealth to three servants — five talents to one, two to another, one to the last. Each according to his own ability. Then he leaves.

When he returns, two servants have doubled what they were given. The third buried his — dug a hole, hid it, kept it safe. He gave back exactly what he received and called it responsible.

The master called it wicked.

That’s the part worth sitting with.

The servant with one talent didn’t lose what he was given. He didn’t squander it. He preserved it. And yet the master’s response was not disappointment — it was judgment. Because the problem was never the amount. The problem was the posture. The buried talent was not a financial failure. It was a failure of trust.

He didn’t believe his master’s character was good enough to take the risk. And that unbelief paralysed him.

“The playing field was never equal — and that was never the point.”

The servant with five talents and the servant with two received identical commendation. Well done, good and faithful servant. Not well done, most productive servant. Not well done, highest return servant. Faithful. The playing field was never equal — and that was never the point.

Which means the never-enough posture — that quiet sense that you are somehow behind, somehow inadequate compared to what others have built — is a misreading of your assignment. God is not going to hold you accountable for what someone else was given. He is going to hold you accountable for what you were given.

That changes the question entirely.

Not how much do I have — but what am I doing with what I have?

Time. When you look at where your hours actually go, how much of it is advancing anything beyond your own comfort and accumulation? Not as guilt — but as honest inventory.

Talents. The gifts, abilities, and platform God has given you — are they being deployed for something beyond yourself? A man’s gifts were never meant to stop with him.

Treasures. Not equal giving — equal sacrifice. The question is not the amount. It’s whether what you give costs you something — or whether it comes so easily it costs you nothing at all.

The master in the parable gave his servants plenty of time. He was not looking for perfection. He was looking for faithfulness. And when he returned, there was no excuse that proved sufficient.

There won’t be then either.

If Jesus returned today — what fruit would you point to?

Grace and peace, Seun