It was a sad day in my pastoral journey years ago when I had to ask a musician on a worship team I led to step off of the church worship team for a season due to a moral failure. He became angry and responded with, “This is my way of worshipping God. How am I even supposed to worship God if I can’t exercise my gift?” He let me know in no uncertain terms that he believed having him sit out from the worship team for a season was stripping him of the ability to connect with God.

Let’s talk about gifts…

 Most parents love to give to their children. The Bible explains that it’s only natural that parents do this, whether they are believers or unbelievers:

“If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.” Matthew 7:11 (AMP)

What happens to parents when it seems as if the children don’t care about them, but only about what they give them? How do parents feel when a child — whether young or grown, has no interest in communicating with them, but just wants whatever gift they have to offer them? It leaves a parent feeling heartbroken.

At times, the child can even let it slip from their mind completely that were it not for the parent — they would not even have the gift in the first place. Many times, children skip off and start playing with their gift without even acknowledging the giver, unless their parents are diligent to train them to do so.

There are so many times we are prone to do this with God and we don’t even realize it. I’ve done it myself and have coasted along in idolatry until the Holy Spirit got ahold of my heart to remind me of truth. While dealing with the worship team musician back in the day and his claim that I had cut off his ability to worship God was like a jolt to my senses, I have realized, I can have the same tendencies if I’m not super careful.  Exodus 20 lists the ten commandments and the first one is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Anything in our life can easily become a god, including our talents.

These are a few things I’ve had to remind myself of.

Private vs. Public

 What I do in private will always be more important than what I do in public. The foundation of everything I will ever be or have to offer comes out of the secret place with God. It doesn’t come through honing or utilizing my gifts. Giving my gift to the world is not the substance of my life. God is the core of my life, Furthermore, to have anything of real value to give, I need to spend as much time as possible in solitude with Him. I crush God’s heart when I start to care more about whatever he’s given me rather than adoring Him. When I talk more about the next thing God is going to give me, or how He is going to use me rather than talking about HIM — I have a problem.

My gift in proper perspective 

There are times a person can slide into the dangerous mindset that the most important thing is that they be given the solo, or the speaking opportunity, or the leadership position. Exercising our God-given gifts is helpful to the Kingdom of God when done rightly motivated and wholeheartedly. However — putting things in proper perspective, God has created all of us with a certain lifespan here on earth. One day, people and organizations will exist without my gifts. The world will go on without me. I must be careful to guard against thinking the most pressing thing is that I have opportunities or that the world can’t exist without what I do. Not only can it exist — it one day will.

Gifts as a vehicle 

When I take a road trip, the thing I am most focused on isn’t what car I’m driving but who is on the journey with me, and where we are going and what we are going to experience once I get there. The emphasis is not on my vehicle, but the rest of the elements of the journey. Gifts are a vehicle to proclaim God’s greatness and to get His message into the world. When I focus on the ability to exercise my gifts and talents more than I focus on the God who gave me the gift and talent, it not only becomes a major issue, but it almost makes my gift irrelevant.  When my focus becomes my vehicle, I have gone off course. The most important aspect of the journey is the God who is with me.He will never leave or forsake me, (Deuteronomy 31:6) and yet at times, I have sadly forsaken him — mainly concerned about the opportunity to share my gifts rather than simply enjoy Him.

The Manchester Catechism states that, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.” We would all do well to remember this when it comes to the purpose of life and the proper perspective of gifts. Spending time with Him is the greatest gift.