<p>19:18 <i>And the second came, saying: Your minas, Lord, have made five minas</i>- The faithful in the parable of the talents / pounds realize that &quot;your minas have made&quot; what spirituality they can now offer Christ at the judgment. They understand that their growth was thanks to that basic deposit of doctrine delivered to them. Each of us have been given different aspects of Christ's character to develop from the same basic doctrines, and therefore we will each have an individual discussion with our Lord. We shouldn't think of the judgment as being a process which is more or less identical for each of us. This misconception arises from failing to recognize that our meeting with Christ is only <i>likened</i> to a human judgment court. The similarities aren't exact.&nbsp;</p><p>We are to &ldquo;gain&rdquo; or 'make' more for the Lord on the basis of what He first gave us. The Greek word translated &ldquo;made&rdquo; is elsewhere usually used about gaining men and women for Christ- a wife &lsquo;gains&rsquo; her unbelieving husband (1 Pet. 3:1); Paul sought to &lsquo;gain&rsquo; people for the Lord (1 Cor. 9:19-22); we &lsquo;gain&rsquo; a lost brother by pastoral effort with him (Mt. 18:15). Be that going for a coffee with him, sending an email, trying to imagine his feelings and approaching him appropriately.</p><p>Significantly, the other usages of this word translated &lsquo;gain&rsquo; are about the folly of gaining material wealth, even gaining the whole world. We can&rsquo;t be successfully about the Lord&rsquo;s business, of gaining folks for Him, if we are selling our soul to gain material things. That&rsquo;s the point. We were &ldquo;delivered&rdquo; talents by God. It&rsquo;s the same word used about how the Lord Jesus exhaled His last breath on the cross; how &ldquo;that form of doctrine&rdquo; was &lsquo;delivered&rsquo; to us before baptism (Rom. 6:17; 1 Cor. 15:3; Jude 3). We can&rsquo;t say we have no talents. Christ died for you, for me; He bowed His head towards each of us personally and gave us His last breath, the riches of His Spirit within us who stand before His cross.</p>