Talent: Character Over Comparison
“Invest your talents, the things that come easily to you and give you pleasure in your disciple making, in loving your family, and in your vocation as your offering of gratitude back to the Savior. ”
“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”
Leo Buscaglia
It’s just not fair! Why do some people have brains to spare, athletic ability that makes them good at every sport they try, looks that get better with age, and are great at card tricks?!
Talent! We can work hard and try to develop abilities in areas we’re not good at, but there is no getting by the truth that some folks just have an ability for things that we will never match. While we all claim to understand this reality, it still can become an issue of competition and comparison in the home and in the body of Christ, the church.
There is a parable taken from a public school newsletter that captures our frustration with talent:
Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new world. So, they organized a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent at swimming; in fact, better than his instructor, but he made only passing grades in flying, and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running. This caused his webbed feet to be badly worn so that he was only average in swimming.
The rabbit started at the top of his class in running but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles from so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent at climbing, but encountered constant frustration in flying class because the instructor made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He developed charley horses from overexertion, and only got a C in climbing and a D in running.
The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a nonconformist. In climbing classes he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there…
The moral of the story is a simple one: Each creature has its own set of capabilities and talents which will eventually succeed unless they are forced, or expected, to fill a mold they do not fit.
This may be one of the biggest frustrations in families, especially with highly successful parents.
My dad was very successful at making money in sales, but he saw that attorneys were making money and had the status that his profession lacked. Consequently, his vision for my life as the first-born was to go to law school and become what he admired, but could not attain. You can imagine his disappointment when I left his financial planning firm to go to seminary. To be fair, he did come to value my life choice and was supportive of his son in ministry.
This may be a good time to consider your vision for your child and their enthusiasm for it. (Sorry, but making you uncomfortable is one of my gifts.)
In the church, we can become enamored with those people who exhibit talents we wish we had, and even ascribe spiritual maturity to something that was a gift from God and not the result of hard work.
I remember hosting a famous Christian singer at our church. She had an amazing talent and we felt so fortunate to afford her and her band to come. As we got closer to the date of the concert, my worship guy began to get requests for things that seemed more suited to a diva than a woman who was coming to lead us in worship and praise. The stipulations included the kind of bottled water, candy, and food to provide in the green room, as well as strict rules on access to the public. I asked if we had really booked Taylor Swift?!
Talent is no guarantee of character, which is God’s big goal for us. As parents, we can spend a lot of time and money on sharpening our child’s talent for music or sports, yet neglect the kind of teaching and experiences that mold character.
In fact, nothing is more common than real talent gone to waste because there was no commitment to do the work to maximize what God gave them.
Biblically, let me give a couple observations on God’s view of the talents He gave us.
Stop comparing!
Whether it is in the home among siblings or the people in your home group, resist the very human tendency to compare yourself with others. When the disciples argued over who had the real talent to lead the group, Jesus interrupted with a reminder that serving others in humility and love was far more important to him than their leadership abilities (Luke 22:24-27). Some folks have a talent for making relationships easily, while you may struggle to build new friendships. God knows how he made you and he is not interested in forcing you into someone else’s mold. Be yourself!
Use your natural talent as a way to make relationships with unchurched friends.
Your neighbor may not be excited to come hear your “talented preacher” but he would enjoy practicing guitar with you, or taking a cooking class, or whatever you are good at. Evangelism and disciple making, which are one and the same process, should feel natural to your personality and talents. Don’t let the excuse that you are “not good at that'' keep you out of the game!
The truth is, our culture has become jaded by talented Christians who turn out to be moral failures. See Hillsong. Your family and friends who need Jesus are looking for authenticity in our life and witness. Let your light shine, not your imitation of someone else you think is more talented and attractive.
We will be accountable for how we invested our talents in the kingdom.
How I live now matters because I am investing in lives here and preparing myself for what is to come. “Because you were faithful in this little thing I will entrust you with five cities” (Luke 19:19). What a crazy reward, five cities! Jesus seems to be saying that as we are faithful with the talents he has given us now, insignificant as they may seem, the reward for your faithfulness is exponential! Who is worthy of any of this?!
So friend, invest your talents, the things that come easily to you and give you pleasure in your disciple making, in loving your family, and in your vocation as your offering of gratitude back to the Savior.
Lastly, set your kids free from unfair expectations in light of how God made them.
Give your pastor grace to be good at what God has given him and stop comparing to the big guns on YouTube!
To the glory of God!
