What are you really good at? Painting? Counseling? Maybe you’ve never met a car problem you couldn’t repair, or you’re an amazing chef. Perhaps you just find opportunities to help people wherever you go. Whatever your talent or skill is, guess what? God’s behind it! But He doesn’t bless us with talents or skills so we can get noticed or earn lots of cash. Yes, that can be a result of it. But it’s so much bigger than that. God wants us to honor Him with those gifts! He wants us to be “good and faithful servants” with our talents. How exactly does God want us to use our talents for Him? Two ways: blessing others and building His kingdom. God wants us to bless others. In 1 Peter 4:10, we’re called to use our gifts to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace. Now, in that context, Peter was specifically talking about spiritual gifts, like prophecy and healing. Those are supernatural abilities God gives each Christ-follower, but the general idea of blessing others also carries over to talents. God doesn’t give us anything just for our own benefit. After all, we’re blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2)! Just as with spiritual gifts, God wants us to use our talents and skills for the benefit of others. How can you put that into practice? Maybe there’s a ministry that uses your skill or talent to help others. If you love working on cars, volunteer to repair single moms’ cars for free. Or if you paint, hold art classes for nursing home residents. If you look in your community, you’re sure to find a need you can meet with the talents God’s given you. And if nothing exists, you can always start your own ministry! God wants us to build His kingdom for His glory. God made us all different. That’s great, because together, all of us make up the kingdom. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the body of Christ to a human body: Each of us is unique, but together we make the body complete. And Christ is the head of the body (Ephesians 5:23), so everything we do points back to Him. He directs it all! In other words, God wants you to use your unique role in the body of Christ to glorify Him. So, if God made you an amazing singer, sing for Him. If your talent is a little less conventional—maybe you’re good with numbers or with writing code—then find a way to translate that into a job or volunteer work for a God-honoring company or ministry. Use your God-given abilities to reach those who don’t know Him—and give Him the credit for your talents. Jesus gives us two commandments: to love the Lord and to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37–40). And wh
en we steward our talents to honor Him and to bless others, we’re doing just that. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23–24 (ESV)