Circle of Life 3
Most of us never give a second thought to using our “talents” to serve ourselves or for that matter any thought what-so-ever toward using them to serve God. The truth is that God didn’t give us our talents to serve ourselves, but to use in His service. When we use our talents for our own personal gain or achievements were are doing so all by ourselves. Even if our gain is not financial, if we should use these talents for personal recognition we are actually driving a firm wedge between ourselves and the Lord. Moses made this mistake and we are suppose to learn from his experience (being denied entrance to the promised land.) Jesus made both His and our purpose perfectly clear, ”For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 NIV). Our purpose in life is to serve God. How we do that is by listening to Him and following His lead. This is a tough lesson in a very tough world. As we grow closer to God, we begin to understand that hardships and challenges are a part of the cross that we must personally bear in our daily ordeals but in overcoming these hardships we want to take credit for our achievements. Yet in hindsight, we would have to admit that being born with some defined talents is hardly something that we can take credit for. Using our minds to gain knowledge, understanding and excellence does include our participation, but without the mind or the other senses we employ and utilize toward these ends, we would achieve nothing. Everything we have comes from God. This is literally true, not indirectly, hypothetically or argueably, but literally!
Our own little God complexes are an unhealthy aberration of our need for recognition, to somehow define our importance in life. We are all important and an integral part of God’s plan, and it is only this particular importance which has any real value to our creator. The only successes in this life which matter are those for which we were ordained. The only way to discover this plan is grow closer to God and to His other children. God alone knows His plans for us but he does enable others to encourage us to follow His chosen direction for each of us. Believing we are using our talents for God, when only we have judged these applications as valid, is like beginning a long journey without a map or a destination. Even if we did accidentally arrive at the right destination we wouldn’t ever recognize it. In any event, our service to God would be forever lost. Ask God today, what He had in mind for you and then be prepared to please Him well.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE
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Very well said.