By Dr. Rebekah McCloud
Yesterday, my grandson Kevin and I went to a performance of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. The pianist was a 21-year-old named Micah Thomas. My grandma would say, “that fellow played that piana until it screamed.” He has talent with a capital T.
The dictionary says talent is a natural aptitude or skill; an innate ability; a natural endowment or ability of superior quality. Synonyms for the word talent include: gift, flair, strength, forte, expertise, capacity, knack, bent, genius, adroitness and skill.
Talent is one of the three areas over which God has given us stewardship. You know the three—time, talent and money. The Bible says that we—you and I—all have a God-given talent; a gift, forte, knack or skill, if you will.
Romans 12:6 says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” And Corinthians 12: 7 tells us, “Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
So, we all have at least one God-given talent; and that’s talent with a capital T. Sadly, some of us don’t believe we have talent. Have you heard people say, “When the Lord was passing out such and such, I wasn’t in the room or I was behind the door?” My answer to those folks is, it wasn’t your gift. Because if it were, God would have still given it to you.
If the God who is the Alpha and the Omega could speak and there was light; and if the God of Moses could part the Red Sea and allow the Israelites to walk on dry land; and if the God of Daniel could save him from the lion’s den and his three friends from the fiery furnace; and if the God who is the Rose of Sharon, the bright and morning star, the Prince of Peace, the I Am, the Comforter and the wheel in the middle of a wheel… certainly that God could reach behind a door, over a door, under a door, around a door, though a door, beneath a door, or above a door or into another room and give you talent with a capital T . Amen!
Besides the fact that it’s written in the Bible, how else can we know that God has given each of us a talent with a capital T? Excuse the vernacular, “God don’t make no mess and He don’t pass out no junk! Amen.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Let me repeat, “we are God’s handiwork,” not mess, not junk and we have talent with a capital T.
The Bible has a lot to say about how we are supposed to use and safeguard the talent God has entrusted to our care. 1 Peter 4: 10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
Colossians 3:23 encourages that, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for human masters.” And Romans 12:11 tells us to, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the LORD.” Amen.
Christian author, Leo Buscaglia says “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”
Let me share this quote from Erma Bombeck, she said:
“When
I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have
a single bit of talent left, and could say,
I used
everything you gave me.”
Grace, we’ve got talent with a capital T! Everything that we need, is in this house or will be in the house. God has a plan for Grace for Living Ministries. He didn’t sustain us for 15 years for nothing. We say every Sunday, “exceedingly, abundantly, above all.” We must use that talent that we have and use it to the full. The Bible says, and I’m paraphrasing, if you take care of the little bit, the tee-tinsy bit that He gave us, then He will give us more. I declare and decree, we’ll be like Jabez and our territory will be enlarged. Let’s use everything he gave us. Amen. Lig