A Fresh Look At The Gift

Are you interested in using your gifts for God?

There have been a lot of versions of quizzes you can take to determine which gifts God has blessed you with. Many people take the tests and are excited to finally know what their gift is.

When a church committee is trying to come up with a subcommittee to plan a special event, you might hear someone claim, “That’s not my gift.” It’s a guilt-free way to get out of doing something.

Or you might hear someone explain how they were able to achieve a specific accomplishment with the words, “It’s a gift.”

Everybody is good at doing something. You just have to figure out your own strengths and weaknesses. When we use our strengths to help others, it feels good. And we don’t have to feel bad about having weaknesses.

In an interview, Karen Kingsbury claimed her ability to write well and fast was a gift from God. I think she’ll forgive me if I have a different opinion.

Let me explain.

I once thanked God for giving me the gift of writing. I take great pleasure in putting my stories on the page and couldn’t write as well as I do unless He had something to do with it. He called me to write, so I know that’s where I should focus my creative energy. But when I thanked Him for it, His response surprised me.

He said, “Writing isn’t the gift. I am.”

After I thought about it for a while, I realized that every singer has a unique voice and so does every writer. Almighty God is The Creator. When The Creator uses Writer A to tell a story, He knows it will sound different than using Writer B. It’s like using an oboe instead of a trumpet. Each instrument can carry the melody well, but will sound different.

When Karen Kingsbury’s path was laid out before her, she made good choices along the way and developed into the kind of person who can do what she does. God was with her and still is. But her writing ability is not the gift. Her gift is the presence of God. When He expresses Himself in her writing, He touches the hearts of the readers. He works through her. She’s an instrument in a large symphony of writers who are all being used by God in different ways.

Knowing that He is my gift makes me appreciate the Gift even more.