Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 12:3

Matthew 25
14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 “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.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Romans 12
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

I believe that the talents in this parable represent the measure of faith that is given by God to each of us. As in the parable, we have a responsibility use our measure of faith, regardless of how big or small it is, to produce more faith, both within ourselves and in others.

The good and faithful servants had evidence to show that their talents produced more, I would say this represents someone who used their faith to grow closer to God, or to help others grow closer to Him, or to make more disciples. The wicked servant did not use his talent at all, this exemplifies someone who never exercised their faith at all, either to bring more people to the Lord or to grow within himself. This would have to be because he never used his faith to take that first step of accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and so was unable to do anything else with it either.

When the master addresses them, he says in effect to the good and faithful servants, "I gave you a little bit of faith and you expanded my kingdom exponentially with it. I can't wait to see what happens when I give you a lot of faith." To the wicked servant he says, "You may as well have never received the faith that you were given. You took no efforts to use it at all, even to try produce more faith within yourself (represented by not putting the talent in the bank). Because of that, there is no point in you having any faith at all, much less more. I will put your faith where it is better off, with somebody who is able to do something with it. Sadly, that will leave you with darkness and torment, but because I don't have any way to help you apart from faith, that is the only other alternative."