One of my favorite of Jesus’ parables is the Parable of the Talents. I’m sure you know the story well. In this parable a certain Master entrusts his servants with five, two and one talent of money respectively. The servants handle the administration of their Master’s resources differently.
The servants entrusted with five talents and two talents each go out and put their Master’s money to work so that when the Master returns they will not only be able to return the principle but earnings as well. The servant that receives one talent, fearing the Master, digs a hole and buries his talent. When the Master returns, the servant with five talents has increased it to ten. The Master is pleased and increases his responsibility. Similarly, the servant entrusted with two talents returns them with an increase of two. The reaction of the Master is the same. However, the servant entrusted with the one talent is judged harshly by the Master for not increasing what he had been given (Matt. 25:14-30).
When we join the family of God, He expects us to put the “talents” He has given us to use so that they increase. The “talents” are our time, spiritual gifts, physical bodies, and yes, our financial resources. Christians ought to be the most giving people because we have been given so much. Furthermore, it is important to note that followers of Christ are responsible to Him for how we choose to use or not to use those “talents” that He has given us towards the growth of God’s Kingdom.
Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH) has tax credits available for Missouri Baptists who want to faithfully support His Kingdom’s growth through the ministries of MBCH. You can apply this principle directly to your financial resources, because tax credits allow you to take income taxes that you would pay to the State of Missouri and give it to MBCH allowing you to grow the impact of your “talents.”
Our Missouri State tax credits are 50% tax credits. This means that for every dollar you give to one of our qualified tax credit programs you receive fifty cents as a credit against your state taxes. For many Missouri Baptists, this allows them to give more because the increase is coming out of their state tax bill and not out of their pocket.
If you are interested in making a year-end tax credit gift in this Christmas season of giving email development@mbch.org, or call 1-800-264-6224. As always, thank you so much for your faithful generosity, year-in and year-out, that makes an eternal difference in the lives of “the least of these!”