In one story a wealthy man was going on a journey. He called his servants, gave one man five portions of money, a second man two and a third man one. When he returned he found that the first and the second men had traded with the money and doubled it. The owner was delighted with this and congratulated them both equally. But the third man told him that he had just kept the money safely because he thought the owner was going to be unreasonable in his expectations. The owner was angry and took his money and gave it to the one who now had ten portions. Jesus wanted to teach that everyone would be rewarded based on what he had done with whatever he had been given. God also takes it seriously if we don't use what we have been entrusted with.

In another story, a wealthy man gave ten servants one portion of money each. Later he found one servant had made ten more portions and another had made five more. Each one was rewarded according to his output. But when one servant just returned the money without any profit because he thought the master was anyway going to find fault, the master condemned him for his wrong attitude and unfaithfulness. This story teaches us that our reward would also be proportional to how faithful we are.

In one story a rich man was living in luxury while a beggar called Lazarus was lying outside his house, surviving on the scraps thrown from the house. After both died, the rich man found himself in torment while he could see at a distance Lazarus enjoying himself with Abraham. He requested Abraham to send Lazarus with some water for him. But there was a gulf between them nobody could cross. Then he wanted Lazarus to warn his brothers on earth. But he learned there was a finality about death, and that the choices people made when living on earth determined their eternity.