A CEO was heading overseas and called in three interns.
She handed each of them an envelope.
One held $10,000.
The second held $5,000.
The third had $1,000.
“You’ve got six months,” she said.
“Do something meaningful with it. I’ll check back when I return.”
The first intern launched a side hustle.
Built a small following.
Turned the ten into twenty.
The second partnered with a local nonprofit.
Ran a campaign. Doubled the five.
Small, but full of purpose.
The third?
He panicked.
Didn’t want to risk it.
So he locked the envelope in his glove box.
“At least I won’t lose it,” he told himself.
When the CEO returned,
She was glowing at the first two.
“You took the risk. You moved with heart.
That’s what I hoped for.”
Then came the third.
He slid the envelope back across the table, untouched.
“I didn’t want to mess it up,” he mumbled.
“So I didn’t do anything.”
She looked at him, sad, not angry, and said:
“I didn’t give you the gift to protect it.
I gave it so you’d use it.
You buried your chance to grow.”
And she gave his share to the one who had proven faithful.
Moral:
You weren’t given your gift to hide it.
Fear doesn’t protect potential, it buries it.
What you don’t risk, you can’t multiply.
Questions to Reflect On:
- What have you buried out of fear—your creativity, your voice, your calling?
- Are you mistaking “playing it safe” for being faithful?
- What would it look like to invest what you’ve been given, even if the outcome isn’t guaranteed?
- If the Master came back today, would you be proud of how you’ve used what you hold?
Truth is sometimes packaged as rigid, controlling, and closed. To accept a set of beliefs uncritically.
- It says, “Believe this or else.”
- It offers all the answers, demands agreement, and claims sole ownership of what’s right.
- It builds walls, controls behavior, and creates followers.
But real truth, living truth, invites.
It says, “Here’s what I’ve found. What does it stir in you?”
It doesn’t demand answers; it awakens better questions.
It doesn’t try to control you, it helps you remember who you really are.
Let’s seek it together.
Let's honor autonomy.
It doesn’t create followers.
It calls forth image-bearers.