Gifts and Talents!
I am in the process of reading “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer.
In Chapter Two, page 28, he makes the following remark concerning our gifts and talents. He says, “Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. they should be recognized for what they are, God’s loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles.” “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive” ( I Cor 4:7)
To realize that all we are and all that we ever will be, comes from the Hand of God. That the gifts and talents that He has given us are to be given back to Him, to allow Him to teach us to use what He has given us to bring glory to His name.
That if we sing, let us sing unto Him, let us raise our voices in praise, in worship, in adoration of the Most High, that no matter what kind of music we are into, that we are into it for Him and Him alone.
If we write, let us write to lift up the name of the Lord, to share the heart of God, to allow Him to use us in whatever genre He wants us to write, let us to it to the best of the abilities that the Lord has given us. Let us be the best in whatever He sets before us to do.
If we play instruments, again, let us do it as unto the Lord, no matter what kind of music it is, are we doing it as unto the Lord. Are we given Him the credit and the glory and the praise for the gifts and talents that He has given us?
We are not to bury the talents and the gifts. We are to give them back to Him, so that He can give it back to us, as we realize, that they are His in the first place. We are to give out of what has been given us.
In whatever gifts we are given, let us use them to the fullest. We are not all called to write, to sing, to play musical instruments. We might be carpenters, doctors, lawyers, a mother, a father, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, let us do it for the Lord, knowing that He will bring forth that which He has put within and that He will continue to work in you His purpose.
We are to dream dreams, to believe God and trust that which He has begun in us, He will finish, so press in and lay hold of those things that God has spoken to you. Allow faith to rise up within and believe. He knows the desires of your heart. He wants us to come to Him, to seek Him, to know Him and to be one with Him, so that He can develope the gifts and talents that He has planted within us.
We are all called to be His disciples, His ministers. He said we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, that we are to follow Him, to allow His gifts and His talents to be seen in us as He molds and shapes us into whatever instrument He wants us to be in His Hands. That we will be conformed to Him!
Till later,
Paul