Notice the words the master uses here. "You ought to have invested my
money." "I should have received what was my own with interest" The
question of ownership is very clear in this passage. The money belonged to
the master. The servants were caretakers and investors of that money but
they did not own it themselves.
The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians compares the Christian life to
the building of a great house.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.
Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay
a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, straw—13 each one's work will become manifest,
for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and
the fire will test what sort of work each one had done. 14 If the work
that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a
reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though
he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians
3:10-15)
According to Paul, each of us is accountable to God for the use of the
blessings, gifts, and talents He provides. The day is coming when we will
be called to give an accounting like the servants in the parable of Jesus in
Matthew 25. The fact that we are held accountable for the use of what God
gives to us shows that we are not free to do as we please. All we have has
been entrusted to us. It has been loaned for a time and a purpose. While we
have been given a free will, we do not have the legal right to do as we
please with these blessings.
This truth is not an easy one for us to accept. We like to believe that we
have the right to do as we please with what has been given to us. We pat
ourselves on the back for giving a portion of what God has given us back to
Him, while we are merely giving to God what is His anyway. We must learn
to live our lives with the reality that everything we have belongs to Him and
has been given to us to be invested for the purpose of His kingdom. Like