When God hands us our “talents” in life, He knows what we are able to do with them and expects us to use our gifts for His glory. It can be challenging to overcome fear and avoid “burying a God-given talent.” Learn about getting to what’s behind the fear and techniques to help you affirm yourself and perhaps get unstuck in some aspect of your life.

“His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. 

Since you were faithful in small matters,

I will give you great responsibilities.

Come, share your master's joy.’”

“‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,

harvesting where you did not plant

and gathering where you did not scatter;

so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. 

Here it is back.'”

Just as the master gives each servant a different number of talents, God gives us different gifts. He knows what we can handle and expects only what He knows we can do.

We often get psychologically stuck, frequently due to a feeling of shame or inadequacy, that causes fear. We can be like the third servant who “buried his talent” out of fear.

We often react the same way as that third servant, putting the cause of his own actions back on the master. Instead, we need to address where that fear comes from, work on ways to affirm ourselves, and seek the advantages of taking a risk.

To overcome fear, we can address the feelings of shame and inadequacy and where those feelings originated, we can deflate the risk, we can take smaller steps.

During a role-play exercise, Dr. Peter pretends to be the third servant and Dr. Gerry works with him through his fear, illustrating how active, motivational listening can help someone consider alternatives. 

Identify one thing in your life that’s “a buried talent.” Think about an advantage to making a change. What would happen if you tried? If you sense fear, walk it back and see what causes the fear. Bring that root cause to prayer, to a friend or to a counselor to address.