By Arulraj Johnrose
“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in
teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with
liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with
cheerfulness.” - Romans 12:6-8 (NKJV)
In my teaching career, I have witnessed students exhibiting
their talents during Annual day program and Talent night program at
their schools. Students would plan, prepare, and practice well
beforehand in order to perform their best on the programs. Elementary
students, especially turn to their parents for ideas, help, and directions
in order to participate in these programs. Parents knowing the abilities
of their children, choose the right kind of talent for their children and
help them in planning, preparing, and practicing well ahead of time, so
that their children would perform to their best abilities on the day of
the program. On the day of program, as parents watch their children
perform on the stage as taught, one could see a smile, joy, and pride
decorated on the face of the parents. After the performance, children
would get hugs, kisses, and may be a reward too from their parents.
What a joy and pride parents experience when they see their children
perform their talents as taught to them! In the following years Parents
are even happier to spend time and money to develop the talents
of their children.
In the same manner, our heavenly Father is filled with joy
when He sees each one of us plan, prepare, and practice the talents He
has given to us. God has given natural talents and spiritual gifts to
each one of us, and we are to develop them and make use of them to
our best, so that we can make our lives better, make others' lives better,
and bring honor and glory to our creator.
Talents and Spiritual Gifts
Talents are natural abilities God has given to each one of us on
this earth regardless of our status of being a Christian or not. Talents
are inherited from our parents (traced back to Adam & Eve), acquired, and
nurtured by our parents, religion, culture, education, our own interests,
and in short, the immediate world around us. One may have a natural
talent in music, or singing, or art, or preaching, or teaching, or writing,
or science, or mathematics, or organizing, and so on. If your parents
are musicians, they might influence you to develop interest toward
music, and as a result, you could become a talented musician.
Developing our talents, or not developing our talents, it all depends on
the context of our immediate environment, and our relationship with
God. Every one of us have one or more natural talents, and we need to
nurture and develop our talents with interests and divine guidance.
Parents need to provide a good nurturing environment for their
children with divine guidance, so that children can get the very best
opportunity of developing their natural talents right from the beginning
and exercising their talents to serve others and to bring honor and
glory to God.
Unlike natural Talents, Spiritual Gifts are given by the Holy
Spirit only to people who believe in Jesus Christ, and become member
of His body which is the church. Spiritual Gifts are given to the
believers so that they can use it to serve others. The Bible says “for to
one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the
word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the
same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another
the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of
spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these
things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the
body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:8-
12. NKJV). Yes, the Holy Spirit distributes the Spiritual Gifts
according to His will to the believers, and it is not inherited from our
parents.
Life’s Lessons from the Parable
It is a simple parable that Jesus used to teach life’s lessons, on
how we must constructively use our natural talents and spiritual gifts
for our own good, for the good of others, and to praise God. Jesus is a
great teacher and always used the simple yet profound strategy to
teach people. Mathew 25:14-30 says that a master going on a journey,
summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them; to one he
gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to
his ability. When the master returned from his journey, he was very
pleased with the servants who received five talents and two talents,
because they invested their talents and doubled it. But the master
rebuked and cast away the servant who received one talent, because
this servant did not make use of the talent, instead buried it out of fear.
This parable of Jesus, teaches us the importance of making use
of and multiplying our talents, and gifts, rather than fearfully burying
them. Those who neglect the talents that God has given us, will have
to give account for all the good they could have done but neglected to
do.
Our Talents, Spiritual Gifts, and Church Growth
All the natural talents, and spiritual gifts that we possess are
from the Lord. Therefore, as a steward of God, each one of us must
invest our talents and spiritual gifts, and use them for the service of our
Lord. In the Old Testament, we read that people of Israel with varied
talents coming together to build a tabernacle to worship the Lord.
Exodus 31:1-6 says that, when God asked Moses to build a tabernacle,
He chose Bezalel the son of Uri and filled him with the spirit of God,
in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship, so that he can help Moses in building the tabernacle.
Besides, God put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans in order
to build the tabernacle. What about the women? Exodus 35:25-26
says that “All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their
hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet,
and fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom
spun yarn of goats’ hair”. Here we see that everyone with their
individual natural talents, and spiritual gifts coming together to
accomplish God’s work of building the tabernacle.
What a great lesson we can learn from these people for the
present age, of how each one of us can participate in making use of our
natural talents and spiritual gifts individually yet collectively for the
benefit of others and to praise God.
Let us be ready to participate in the work of the church in its
efforts of witnessing and evangelizing. Our local church is not just a
building to gather, but a place where each one of us can pool our
varied individual natural talents and spiritual gifts, and get connected
with each other, resulting in the pooling of needed multi-talents and
spiritual gifts for collective witnessing and evangelizing for the glory
of God.
Whatever talent we have, whatever spiritual gifts we have,
small or great, it is a special gift from God, and we must use it for the
glory of God. No one on this world has been called merely to sit
around. Everyone is called to do something. The work of the church
will not get done, unless all of us get together and creatively develop
and make use of our talents in doing what God has called us to do.
Conclusion
You might ask, what talents do I have? If you don’t know what natural
talents or spiritual gifts you have, ask God to let you know, spend time
with God and enter into a special relationship with him, so that He can
reveal you what He has given you. And then, with His divine
guidance uses it for the glory of God. 1Peter 4:10 says “As each one
has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God”. If you can sing, sing, if you can play
instruments, play instruments; if you can preach, preach, if you can
teach, teach; if you can witness for the Lord, witness; if you can greet,
greet; if you can write, write; if you can smile, smile, if you can
organize meetings, organize; if you can give bible study, give Bible
study. Do everything in praise of God, and not for your selfish gains.
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