The parable of the talents

I was reading yesterday about the negative power of low self esteem. He suggested that self esteem is a crippling infirmity (in the biblical sense) that prevents people from trusting fully in God and living out their potential.

The author used the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) as his example. Three servants are given talents (a unit of money) with each one receiving according to their ability. The first receives five talents, the second three and the last one talent. The first and second servants go and invest the money so that upon the master's return they are able to hand him double the amount he had entrusted them with. However the third servant buried the money, fearing that he would loose it and the master would seek retribution.

Now the point the author was making was that the third servant had an ability. The servant's ability was to administer one talent. The point is not that he could only administer one, it is that it was within his capability to administer that talent. But his low self esteem convinced him not to invest the talent. It nagged at him and said "if you invest the talent you will stuff up and will loose it."

The author suggests that the negative power of low self esteem is that it prevents people seeing that they have talents (of the non-monetary kind) that are within their ability to use. Everyone has talents. Christians have natural talents and God given giftings (however you understand that idea). When we trust our low self esteem, rather than trusting in God we are selling ourselves and God short.

What is your low self esteem telling you can't do? What would it look like if you trusted God rather than your low self esteem?