Using Our Talents

Old Testament

And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth....

Psalm 128:2

When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy,
and it shall be well with you.

"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them,
For they shall eat the fruit of their doings."  

I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
And according to the fruit of his doings.

With your wisdom and understanding you have gained riches for yourself.

The New Testament

"I will give to each one of you according to your works."

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ... You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."

"Give, and it will be given to you...."

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ... So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.... Enter into the joy of your lord."

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The Heavenly Doctrines

What Is Use or Charity?

[E]very person is valued and loved, not for his will and understanding alone, but for the use which he performs or is able to perform from them.

To perform use is to will well to others for the sake of the common good, and not to perform use is to will well to others...for the sake of self.

[E]very person who loves a good use, and performs it from the love of it, is loved by the Lord and received with joy by the angels in heaven.

Charity is a person's spiritual life.

Use is fulfilling one's duty and doing one's work, rightly, faithfully, honestly, and justly.

The Parable of the Talents

That the knowledges of truth and good from the Word will be taken away from those who have not acquired spiritual life for themselves, is also meant in the Lord's parables respecting the talents and pounds given to the servants that they might trade and make gain.... Here "talents," "pounds," and "money," symbolize the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. "To trade," "to make gain," "to put it to the bankers," or "in the bank," means to acquire for oneself thereby spiritual life and intelligence.

Someone wise is a person who is moved by love to put truths into practice. Someone intelligent is a person who is moved by faith to put them into practice. Someone with knowledge is a person who applies his knowledge to doing so. "Work" is that which is actually done by them. Thus "work" means those three talents when put to use, within which they all combine. Nobody can be said to have wisdom, intelligence, or knowledge in the true sense of these words if they are not put to use by him.

Being a Good and Faithful Servant

Serving the Lord is performing uses.

It is a general rule that as is a person's character, so is every work he performs.... For works are the product of the love and faith residing in a person.

Enter into the Joy of Your Lord

To those who faithfully perform uses, the Lord gives the love of use and its reward, which is internal blessedness, and this is eternal happiness.

[A]ngels have happiness from the Lord according to the essence and quality of their use.