Your Talent

[Merika]

(sent to me in email)
Seems that some people have all the great imagination, and the rest of us have to work hard at it.

Oh, to be like that classic comedian Red Skelton. Or remember the Walt Disney animators â€â€� what creativity! One former Disney illustrator is using his talents for Christian videos (his name is Norm McGary). I have a friend â€â€� every thing he says seems to be witty. I asked him if he stays up nights thinking about clever sayings. No, he says, it just comes to him. Then there is another friend who at 12 years old played piano with the Buffalo, NY Philharmonic. Yet, she can play contemporary Christian music with the same ease as a Mozart or Beethoven piece. A young woman with a beautiful voice, crystal clear – what a gift. Perfect pitch! Add to all this, the gifted radio preachers (seems like many of them have the first name “Chuckâ€Â�, too.) What gifts of story telling, profound biblical insights and clear communication skills?

So many gifted people, so many talented, clever and creative. Why does God pick one over the other? How can one rise to the top while others stay in place?

Moses was hand picked by God. When God wanted to send him to do something significant, he had been lollygagging around the desert for 40 years tending sheep – not a real esteem builder by any means. A contemporary of his had risen to power in political circles, making quite a name. But, Moses? Who was he? 40 years, I imagine, leaves you with a bit of a self-image problem. Certainly, he was not like Pharaoh!

It took a couple of interesting "PowerPoint" presentations to get his attenti on. A burning bush for one! (Exodus 3:4) Then, with tremendous import, God asks the cowering, sniveling sheep - herder, “What’s in your hand?â€Â� (Exodus 4:2). Watch out when God asks a question like that. No amount of paranoid introspection can eclipse God when he begins to show His power. What you have within your ability, within reach may, like Moses’ staff, become something far more than you give credit for. That ordinary shepherd’s staff, at once like a snake, but ever like a scepter, became significant in the hands of a man moved by God.

Moses’ staff in his hand was nothing to write home about. The burning bush wasn’t the center - piece of the local arboretum. But, God can use whatever is in our hands if there is a burning in our hearts. It’s not about what you can do, but about what God can do. Why hold back just because you feel you are just plain “ordinary.â€Â� The only question Moses had to answer was, “Am I willing to be used by God with what I have and what I am?â€Â� Too many people waste their time worrying about what they are not, rather than offering themselves to God with who they are.

What about you? Can God do anything significant through you? Well, he can’t if you don’t offer yourself to him with your talents and skills (however small you think they may be). But, if you are willing, then like the boy with the few loaves and fish, God can meet the needs of many through you. All He wants is a willing heart. Does He have yours?

[Weiser]

Depends, is he willing to pick up the tab?

[Merika]

Originally Posted by Weiser

Depends, is he willing to pick up the tab?

I've never known God to be stingy.....

[sweetbilly]

I thought that was a beautiful, well pondered post Merika. Humm i can't think of any talents that i may have except maybe being able to see the abstract things in life that everyone else misses, not saying that other people are dumb or blind or anything like that it's just that i contemplate things deeply before i choose to act on them. However, i don't know if that constitutes any kind of talent?

[Merika]

Yep....God COULD'VE made me Faith Hill! :?

[sweetbilly]

Yep....God COULD'VE made me Faith Hill!

Ahhhhh, in my eyes Faith Hill would be one step backwards Merika