Why Do Good and Talented Men Bury Their Talent | Episode #060

Most people know comparison is wrong.

So why do we keep doing it?

Because comparison isn't the problem. It's the symptom.

In this episode, Craig uncovers the hidden reason good and talented men bury their gifts, avoid opportunities, and settle for less than God created them to become.

Craig shares a deeply personal story of how comparison caused him to hide his own talent—even skipping the message at two of his children's weddings because he believed what he prepared wasn't worth hearing.

But the real problem wasn't comparison.

It was the assumptions he'd stopped questioning.

If you've ever struggled with fear, perfectionism, procrastination, people-pleasing, or the feeling that you're simply not enough, this episode will help you discover what's happening beneath the surface—and how God's truth sets you free.

In this episode you'll discover:

•  Why comparison is a symptom, not the real problem. 
•  The hidden assumptions that give shame its power. 
•  Why fear causes good and talented people to bury their gifts. 
•  The difference between living by comparison and living by revelation. 
•  How to identify the assumptions that have been shaping your life. 
•  Why God never asked you to become a five-talent servant—only a faithful one. 

Key Quote

"The greatest lies are the assumptions you've stopped questioning."

Scriptures

•  Matthew 25:14–30 – The Parable of the Talents 
•  Ephesians 2:10 
•  2 Corinthians 10:12 

If this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

If you're ready to overcome shame and self-doubt so you can become the husband, father, and leader God created you to be, I'd love to help.

Time Stamps

0:00 There is a hidden reason that keeps good and talented men from succeeding

0:58 Why comparison has so much power

1:20 Comparison caused me to hide my talent, and I wasn't even aware I was doing it

1:28 My embarrassing story

2:27 It wasn't that I thought I wasn't a good speaker. I thought I wasn't good enough.

3:10 The question that changed my life

3:51 Asking me to see why I was burying my talent was like asking a fish to see water

4:26 I thought God's grace wasn't enough for me

4:46 The greatest lies are the ones you've stopped questioning. They've become your reality.

5:02 Assumptions are born out of shame, and shame is hard to see. Shame hides.

5:40 If you want to see the lie, you must get out of your natural environment and into the spiritual.

6:02 Your natural environment is where comparison lives.

6:23 The natural world tells you who you ara by comparison. The spiritual tells you who you are by revelation

6:37 Comparison is shame's desperate search for significance. Comparison is asking the life of another to answer the questions only God can answer

6:56 The natural is where you learn you are not enough

7:22 The spiritual is where you discover you really are enough by God's grace

7:58 When you see who the Spirit says you are. You won't worry that you are not a five-talent servant

8:18 My challenge to you: What assumptions have you made about yourself and stopped questioning?

9:42 Stop burying your talent. Stop measuring your life against another's. Rest in God's love and rely on God's grace, and do all that God created you to do.

Connect with Craig @CraigWalkerCaoching

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Transcript

The Hidden Reason Good and Talented Men Don’t Succeed

There is a hidden reason that good and talented men don’t succeed and today I’m going to help you find it.

Welcome back to the Truly a Masterpiece podcast. My name is Craig Walker. I am your host. This is your home for finding freedom from self-doubt and shame and becoming the man of influence you’ve always thought you were made to be. This is where you learn to live the life you were born to love.

Today, we are digging back into Jesus’ teaching on the parable of the three servants.

Last week we talked looked at comparison. Comparison will cause good and talented men to bury their talent, and I showed you how a servant’s mindset will set you free from comparison.

Today, I want to go back to that talk and take it one level deeper. Most people already know comparison is wrong. So why don't they stop? Because comparison isn't the problem. It's the symptom.

Today I want to show you the hidden reason comparison has so much power over good and talented men.

Let me give you a heads up: Part of this talk will sound like a repeat. I promise you it is not. Stick with me. I promise, you’ll get what you came for. It’s going to be good. Let’s get started.

This is an important talk to me because I hid my talent and I wasn’t even aware I was doing it.

I thought I didn’t like public speaking.

I didn't enjoy it. I dreaded it.

Every time I stood in front of people, I felt pressure.

And because of that belief, I buried that talent. I don’t mean that I never did any public speaking. It’s just that if I could get out of speaking I would.

I officiated all six of my children's weddings. Here’s something embarrassing. At two of them, I skipped the message entirely. Yep! I really did. While people were waiting and expecting me to deliver and helpful talk, I just skipped it and went right to the vows. In the moment, I talked myself into believing that what I had to say wasn’t worth sharing.

In the moment when I could have delivered a truth, a practice, a lesson learned… that could have helped my children and someone in audience, I simply bailed.

And when it comes to promoting my own ministry I had almost completely stopped speaking.

Why?

It wasn’t that I didn’t think God had given me talent for speaking and teaching. I knew He did. Every time I’ve spoken people have told me I helped them. My problem was I thought I was not good enough. I compared my talent to those who are way more gifted, more polished, more impactful than I—men like Andy Stanley, Louie Gigglio, Rick Warren, and Tony Evans.

Speaking wasn’t an opportunity to serve others, or use or sharpen the gift God gave me, or even to glorify God. It was a painful reminder that I’m not enough.

The question that changed my life wasn't, "Why do you compare yourself to others?" It was, "Why does comparison have so much power over you?"

Comparison kept me from showing up at my children’s wedding.

Comparison kept me from promoting my own ministry.

Comparison kept me from getting better at speaking.

Comparison kept me from glorifying God with my talent.

Looking back, my silence wasn’t coming from humility. That was fear.

Why didn’t I see what it was doing?

The answer was my assumptions. 

Asking me to see that I was burying my talent was like asking a fish to see water. You can’t see what you’ve been living in all your life. You assume it is reality.

For me, the water wasn't comparison. The water was the assumptions I had been living in for years.

I assumed I wasn’t good enough.

I assumed others thought that, too.

I assumed that because I thought I wasn’t good enough, surely God thought it.

I would never have admitted this, to myself or anyone, but I thought God’s grace wasn’t enough for me.

I bet you’ve thought that, too. If you don’t think you have then answer this: Why are you afraid? Why are you burying your talent? And if you don’t think you are, it might be because, you like the fish, you can’t see the water you live in.

The greatest lies are not the ones you believe. They're the ones you've stopped questioning because they've become assumptions.

Those assumptions were born out of shame, and those assumptions produced the fear I'd lived with most of my life. 

That’s why it is so hard to recognize. Shame hides. Shame doesn’t introduce itself, “Hi. I’m Shame.” Shame disguises itself.

·      Sometimes it looks like perfectionism.

·      Sometimes it looks like procrastination.

·      Sometimes it looks like people-pleasing.

·      Sometimes it looks like fear.

·      Sometimes it looks like anger.

·      Sometimes it looks like overachievement.

·      Sometimes it looks like “trying.”

Trying sounds humble. Trying sounds responsible. Trying sounds spiritual.

How can we ever see the hidden reason good and talented men bury their talent?

You see it the same way you help a fish see water. You take it out of its natural environment—water.

If you take a fish out of water and water is all it sees. 

Thank God there is a way to get out of your natural environment. Your natural environment is where comparison lives. It is in the realm of the physical. You’ve seen your little talent. You’ve compared it to the five talents of others. That’s what causing you to bury your talent.

You must get out of your “natural” environment and into a new environment—the Spiritual. When you do, the contrast will be obvious.

The natural world tells you who you are by comparison.

The spiritual world tells you who you are by revelation.

Comparison is shame's desperate search for significance because comparison is trying to answer a question only God can answer. 

But when you step into the spiritual world, God answers the question comparison never could.

The natural is where you think you are:

·      Not good enough.

·      Not smart enough.

·      Not talented enough.

·      Not pretty enough.

·      Not personable enough.

·      Not pure enough.

·      Not determined or committed enough.

Have you assumed you are too weak, too big, too small, too lazy, too driven, or too much?

But when you step into the spiritual world, God answers the question comparison never could.

You are God’s masterpiece, His work of art. When you were dead in your sins and following the course of this world, and were led about by the prince and the power of darkness, satan, God made you anew, born-again in Christ Jesus. God says that this new birth experience has provided you with everything you need to do every good thing He created you to do. His grace is enough.

When you see it, you won’t worry that you are not a five-talent servant. Because your talent in God’s hand is enough to do way more than you could ever ask or even imagine.

God never asked you to become a five-talent servant. He asked you to become a faithful one.

So, here is my challenge to you:

This week, don't start by trying harder.

Don't start by fighting comparison.

Don't even start by asking, "How do I stop comparing myself?"

Instead, ask a different question.

What assumption have I stopped questioning?

What have I simply accepted as reality?

Have you assumed you're not enough?

Have you assumed other people think you're not enough?

Have you assumed God is disappointed in you?

Bring those assumptions into the light.

Lay them beside what God says about you.

Because the natural world tells you who you are by comparison.

But the spiritual world tells you who you are by revelation.

Stop asking comparison to answer a question only God can answer.

Listen to the One who made you.

He calls you His masterpiece.

He says His grace is enough.

He says He has already given you everything you need to do every good work He created you to do.

God never asked you to become a five-talent servant.

He asked you to become a faithful one.

So stop burying your talent.

Stop measuring your life against someone else's.

Rest in His love.

Rely on His grace.

Be faithful with what He's entrusted to you.

And enjoy the life He created you to live, doing all the good things God created you to do. 

Do these things with peace, joy, and a boat load of confidence.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this talk. If you have please share with others who need to hear it.

If you need help winning your battle over shame and self-doubt, if you need help challenging your assumptions, let’s have a conversation. Reach out to me.

Don’t forget to check out the resources that are in the notes.

Until next time, may the Lord help you to live the life you were born to love.