Having a
sister whose brain I can pick with a simple phone call has been an absolute
blessing to me. The conversation this
week was something like, what's the difference between DNA and talents people
have? If a family has a particular talent
for music that "runs in the family", is that genetic or environmental?
God said to
Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were
born I consecrated you." In Psalm
139, the psalmist speaks to God, "For it was you who formed my inward
parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb." God has plans for us, even within the
confines of free will, He literally activated DNA knit into your very being, so
that you would have the talents and gifts available to you that are needed. Jeremiah, like Moses, argued with God about
being a prophet.
How many times
have you argued with God over gifts He's given you? Did you happen to realize that you were
bad-mouthing His choice? Now, notice that neither Moses nor Jeremiah
got into trouble for questioning God: He
simply explains to them that, of course they have what they need to accomplish
the tasks He sets before them.
The thing is, we
have to acknowledge the gifts from God – unwrap them, so to speak, and actively
put them to use. You may have the
predisposition to healing or speaking in tongues, to leadership or to hospitality
– but without acknowledging their existence, and focusing on developing them,
it's still just random DNA. But that's
where the DNA, the genetic similarities that appear both within families and
that seemingly show up out of nowhere occur.
So listen to Paul's
letter to the Corinthians, beginning with the end of last week: "Strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent
way." Throughout that lesson Paul was
pointing out how our gifts and talents work together for the benefit of our
families, communities, and church, and that each person's work was equally as
important, even if not equally visible.
Here we get to
the environmental factors of our talents and gifts. Through striving individually to explore the
gifts we've been given, and how they can be used to benefit others, joining
with others in learning and developing our own gifts, we honor the trust and
plans that God has made for our lives.
But because we are only a part of the whole, we also need to encourage
others to cultivate their own gifts,
and help them to grow in ways they might not yet have considered.
Haddon
Robinson writes in "Decision Making by the Book" of a concert
violinist whose brother was a bricklayer. One day, a woman began gushing to the
bricklayer about how wonderful it must be to be in the family of that
violinist. Not wanting to insult the bricklayer, she added, “Of course, we don’t
all have the same talents, and even in a family some just seem to have more
talent than others.”
The bricklayer
replied, “Boy, you’re telling me! That violinist brother of mine doesn’t know a
thing about laying bricks. If he couldn’t make some money playing that fiddle
of his, he couldn’t hire a guy with know-how like mine to build a house. If he
had to build a house himself, he’d be ruined.”
Robinson
observes, “If you want to build a house, you don’t want a violinist. If you’re
going to lead an orchestra, you don’t want a brick-layer. No two of us are
exactly alike. None of us has every gift and ability. Our responsibility is to
exercise the gifts we have—not the ones we wish we had.” This is not to say that we can't strive to
improve ourselves in areas other than those in which we are gifted. We may have a passion for music, without an
equal talent for producing it. But if we
enjoy making a joyful noise – that's all God asked for, because we do so with
love.
The
continuation of Paul's letter in today's passage – which didn't originally have
chapters or verses, so it truly is a continuance – discusses the "more
excellent way" he referred to last week.
That way, of course, is with love.
Paul points
out that we could have any gift at all, but if it is used without love, without
focusing on using it for the common good, it's nothing. Love provides us with patience, kindness,
humility. It helps us to encourage
others, to rejoice in their truth. Love
is enduring, and with love, anything is possible.
One of the
other apostles points out in the Gospel of John, "God is love." He so loved the world that He sent Christ to
us, to teach us the greatest commandment – the law of love. The people of Jesus' hometown today were
unable to hear with ears of love what Christ was saying to them. That
is something we all have to work on.
If you don't know
your gifts, pray. Think in truth about
what is or are areas in which you excel.
Talk with others about what gifts they see in you. Then pray again and listen for the spirit of
truth. Get your own ego out of the way –
this includes not only being honest with yourself, but not arguing with God
about His choice in what He knit into
your DNA. You may feel unworthy or
unqualified. And there's a great saying –
God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Trust
that He didn't have to frog[1]
anything – it was knit right the first time.
And finally,
the last test of whether a gift comes from God is whether you can use it in
love, with the common good in mind. Paul
points out, "Love never ends."
And through everything, as Jeremiah says, "I am with you, says the
Lord."
[1] "Frogging" is a
knitting slang term, where we have to "rip-it, rip-it" out when we've
made a mistake.
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