Nuggets of knowledge: what I’ve learned about God’s gifts to us

Blessed morning everyone and welcome to another installment of the Nuggets of knowledge series. Here at http://metanoiameans.com over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about the gifts that God has given me over the course of my life thus far. I’m not talking about the gifts such as protection and provision, although those are wonderful I’m talking about gifts like the many talents and abilities He’s given me. You’ve seen one of these gifts on display yourselves, a gift for writing. Our Lord blesses me with everything that I write. The words that you have read have come straight from him. He’s also blessed me with gifts like music making, and cooking.

You may wonder why God gives us gifts like this, why he gives us talents and interests. I have learned over my short time truly following him that he gives us these things so that we would use them to glorify magnify and worship Him. Whether it be in my case, writing articles that speak about him, writing songs that worship him or making food that would glorify him when given to someone in need. (I haven’t done the letter one yet because I’m still perfecting my cooking. Lol) have you ever noticed that you might have an unusually high interest in or a talent for something? Maybe that’s something God gave you for you to give back to him. If you’re a painter… Maybe he wants you to paint for him? If you’re a singer, maybe he wants you to sing for him. If you’re a dancer, maybe he wants you to dance for him….. whatever you think your talent might be, maybe he wants you to do it for him.

Now, what is it that makes me thinking of this? What is the scriptural basis behind this thought? It’s the parable of the talent told by our Lord Jesus himself. This parable can be found in  the book of Matthew specifically, Matthew 25:14-30. I don’t know how many of you know this parable, but the short version of it is as follows. There are three servants who are called before their master who is about to go on a journey. He gives them each some of his property and expect them to be good stewards over it. The story doesn’t say that it’s money, but that’s why I’ve always understood it to be. It actually says property in the English standard version. In any case two out of the three servants do exactly as they are told to do with the masters property. They each find a way to multiply it so that they are giving their master back not only what he gave them but extra. The third one however, is afraid to lose this property so he doesn’t do anything with it. He buries it. While the other two are commanded for their efforts by their master the one who buried what was given to him was called lazy and stripped over what he was given by his master.

To me, this screams about the abilities and talents that God gives us on this earth. And no, it’s not just because they use the word talent although, that would be a fair assessment. Our abilities and talents are not our own. They are blessings and bestowed upon us by our God. They are his property that he gives us while we are here on earth. We are meant to be good stewards over them. We are meant to nurture them, strengthen them and put them to good use for our Lord and master Jesus Christ. If you think of a talent that you have like the ones I mentioned earlier or any talent that you might have, a seemingly supernatural gift to do something that you didn’t really have to work for. Or even just seemingly supernatural interest in something that you did have to work for, develop, sharpen and hone. If you think of those as you put yourself in the shoes of the servants in this parable. God is showing you what you should do with these gifts that he gave you. The painter should paint, the singer should sing, the dancer should dance, the cook should cook, the writer should write and so on.

It brings our Lord great joy to watch us use the talent that he gave us. It brings him great joy to watch us work at sharpening these talents, and it pleases him greatly when we do what we are meant to do with them and do things that give him glory and give him praise. So don’t be like the servant who hid what his master gave him. Strive to be like the ones who put what was given to them to good use for their master. I try to do so every day and I will continue to until the day my master calls me back to him. Until the day, my loving Heavenly Father calls me home.

What will you do with the talent? God gave you? If you’re saying that he hasn’t given you any talent, know that it is there, he just hasn’t revealed to you yet. Pray about it, ask him how you can serve him and wait for his answer.

“Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.” – 1 Samuel 3:9