Matthew 25:24-28 — Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

Jesus’s parables nag away at me. They seem to say, constantly, “look again, there’s more to see, I’ve got more to say.”
Today, it’s the parable of the talents. First of all, let’s deal with the matter of the man that buried his talent and then just gave it back to his Lord. What was so wrong with that? Why was his Lord so angry — he got his talent back after all? The point is the servant really did nothing. He sat on his hands and did nothing — and somebody else could have put that talent to work.
This bothers me for two reasons.
The first reason is that I wonder if I have talents I’m not using? I wouldn’t like to have Jesus tell me, when I meet Him, to ask “Why didn’t you use that gift that I gave you? I had some really great plans …”
The second reason is that there are no second chances. The Lord does not say to the lazy servant “You missed the point, try again.” It was “… cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:30). Definitely no second chance.
Of course, that verse points to a bigger picture. It confirms that Jesus is talking about us and Him. He has considered us carefully, selected our mission and provided us with what we need to get it done. He’s going to hold us accountable. And He expects that we will have made the effort to get to know Him and His personality. In fact, not doing that is clear evidence of not being saved. Recall — the lazy servant was cast into outer darkness — which will not be the fate of any redeemed saint.