I had the inspiration for this post while taking a shower yesterday. It was imprinted on my heart to testify about the magnitude of Love and blessings, God so graciously showers on his children.
Know this fam, we all are unique beings, created for such a time like this with great purpose! The most amazing thing about our creator is that he certainly did not make us ordinary. Instead, he showered us all with diverse spiritual gifts and talents to use for his glory!
One particular day comes to mind when I think about God, the giver of Talents. It was the day I spoke in disbelief about having any gift from him. Right now, all I can do is smile because I am more informed about our generous creator.
So you see, back in Uni, I was sort of with a guy. I met him through my cousin. I say sort of because at the time, I wasn’t sure what to call him…..a boyfriend or not?
Anyways, this guy was an aspiring photographer. You could see the passion in his eyes each time he spoke about photography. I remember making him a customized tee with his intended photography brand name boldly inscribed on it, and this gesture seemed to have brought him great joy.
Mr man Judiciously saved his coins for an expensive camera. He kicked off with actualizing his dreams and exploring his God given talent. Of course, he was a graduate of a prestigious private University and studied a pretty good course, but even with his degree in the bag, he still decided to follow through with his passion.
What am I trying to bring out of this story?
Here is the point, regardless of how the “thing” that I had with this young man turned out, one memory that has stuck has been that of the day he came to visit me in Med school. That was the day I started to key into all that God deposited on my inside. Short of the story, this exploration journey I am currently on, commenced that very day.
I was in awe of this dude’s versatility and drive. That he was good with photography and decided to follow through with it, even after bagging a B.sc was mind blowing to me.
That day, I couldn’t control myself from blurting out how lucky I felt he was. I mean, he was a super talented photographer and graduate, while I was still a struggling Medical student with zero talents (at the time, I sure didn’t feel like the precious Jewel my father created me to be)
This young man however corrected my erroneous assumptions. He spoke so boldly that day, he said……. “No Titi, we all are blessed with at least one, if not multiple talents. The only problem is that we discover them at different paces. Some people spend a life time discovering their talents, while others never really get to it, but God surely gives each of us unique and beautiful talents, we only have to pray for him to reveal them to us so we can key into his gifts.”
Let me quickly add, that spiritual gifts are slightly different from talents, though they carry the same surname.
A spiritual gift is a God-given capability/skill to Christians after receiving the Holy Spirit into their lives for the purpose of carrying out their function in the body of Christ, which is the Church. Talent and on the other hand, is something you are born with and/or worked for.
Regardless, both are given by God for his glory. However the spiritual gifts such as Leadership, prophecy, healing, teaching, evangelism, intercession/prayers, discernment, knowledge of the Word and the likes, are solely given for the purpose of carrying out your function in the body of Christ.
Talents on the other end, which may include; music, art, an eye for photography, public speaking, cooking, fishing, acting, storytelling, comedy, and sewing, are not necessarily how God wants to manifest his purpose for you in maintaining and growing the Church. Of course it is always amazing to use our talents for his glory, but again, they aren’t necessarily the ministry God is calling us to, else we would feel burnt out and spiritually unfulfilled by doing these things.
Another lesson I have learnt over the years, is never to belittle anyone’s spiritual gift or talent, no matter how small it might seem to you. It is also important to stay humble regardless of how gifted you might think you are.
For his word says…..
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” – James 1:17, NIV
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 4:10-11, NIV
In conclusion beautiful people, God is the almighty giver of talents who blesses his Children generously so that we can give him all of the glory. I say this again, please never belittle anyone’s gift.
“In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the individuals in the body of Christ to different parts of the body. Even though each part serves a different purpose and has a different function, all are important in the whole and are needed for the body to function properly. It is the same with our talents; they are all diverse, but each one serves a purpose.
