Faithfulness with Talents and Calling

God has given to all of us natural talents. It may be that the Lord will want us to use those talents for Him in His service. We should be open to the Holy Spirit in this regard. However, it is also possible that He will require us to put these natural talents aside for a while so that we can concentrate on other things He is wanting to show us and develop in us. One area of natural talent that is highly appreciated in the church is the area of musical talents. We should use these talents to praise and worship God, not to glorify ourselves. However, we must also realise that anything, even Christian ministry, can become an idol if we love and value it more than we value and love God Himself. Therefore the Lord may require us to put our talents aside for a while, so that we can learn to worship Him and develop an intimate relationship with Him first of all.

Another Christian may have an excellent mind. A mind can be used for many things. We should seek God about what to use our minds for. The Lord may want to use our education, our profession to a greater or to a lesser extent. God used the prophet Daniel to be an administrator and a politician in the largest world empires of his day. We should be developing our minds in line with the areas that the Lord is leading us to consider and develop in. We should love the Lord with all our minds (Luke 10:27) and that does not mean leaving them empty. As Christians, we should consider carefully how to creatively and intelligently communicate the gospel in a way that the culture we are in can understand. We should be mentally aware of the kinds of strongholds we are facing so that we can destroy the false reasoning's of Satan and challenge the idols in the culture. We should study the Word and think about how it applies to our lives, our work, our society and our mission. There is an incredible untapped mental power in every Christian we need to harness. We should not be afraid to develop our minds in the area of professional life to which the Lord may have called us for a season. We should never confess or believe that we are stupid. Rather we should recognise that in Christ we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16). The mind is like a muscle. Its power grows when it is used.

As well as what we have and can develop in the natural and mental realm, we have an incredible spiritual inheritance in Christ. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Our spirits, made new in Christ, have tremendous capacity which should be developed (Philippians 4:13). We can develop our spiritual capacity through meditation on the word, through prayer, and worship, through ministering the Word in the power of the Spirit.

Every Christian has a spiritual calling to serve God in a particular capacity. We are told to walk worthy of the calling which we have received (Ephesians 4:1). Some of the different callings are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28-30. Some are called to be fulfilling the different functions listed in Ephesians 4:11-13. We can receive different spiritual gifts at different times to serve others (1 Corinthians 12:1-11).

To fulfill our calling will require faithfulness. Paul was enabled and put into the ministry because God counted him faithful. (1 Timothy 1:12). We must prepare ourselves spiritually and in other ways so that God can release us into His calling for our lives at the right time. If we don't know what that calling is we must seek God until we know. If we know what it is we must prepare ourselves to fulfil that calling. Note the warning in Luke 12:47. If we are moving in our calling we must continue to do all things faithfully so that the Lord can use us even more. We look forward to hearing the words from our Lord Jesus, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." (Matthew 25:23).

God expects you to use what you have. "To whom much is given, much will be required". If we use what we have we will be given more. All these principles discussed above are true and we should put them to work to the maximum. These lessons can be seen in Matthew 25:14-30, in Luke 19:11- 24 and in many other places in the Bible. Study them in your own time and consider them carefully.

It would be good to make a list of the things that God says you have been given, and the things that the Bible says you can and should do. Many times people discover they have hidden talents and gifts that they never knew about as they get moving and stop believing lies about their being inferior or worthless. You are valuable, loved and accepted in Christ.. With this security, find out how you can serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13). Do it faithfully, and as time goes on the Lord will reveal to you areas of devotedness and calling that you never knew you had. He can even add to you new gifts, talents and resources to you if you are faithful in using what you have now! Praise and glory be to His name!

Remain blessed