OUR UNIQUE AND SPECIAL ABILITIES COME FROM GOD

OUR UNIQUE AND SPECIAL ABILITIES COME FROM GOD

If you’ve tapped into certain talents you were born with, and you’ve made great strides in life, that’s wonderful. But never make the mistake of thinking your talents or special abilities originate with you. If you’re good at something, give God the glory. Give Him credit for putting certain wonderful, inventive, creative, and insightful abilities in you, and give Him the thanks.

 

The older I get, the humbler I get. A while back someone told me, “You’re a much better gardener than I am.” It wasn’t as much of a statement of fact, but rather, a concession speech, as if we were competing. I was flabbergasted! I had no idea this person was competing with me—over gardening? I got that furrowed brow look, “What?? That’s nuts!”

 

Gardening is a pleasure for me, a pastime, a hobby. The fact that things grow for me is not because of my great skill, but because of God. He loves me, and I love Him, and so my garden grows. God gives me the insight and the direction, and I just follow and have fun. It works the same with my painting.

 

I didn’t even start painting as a career until I was 40-years old, and I don’t have a degree in art. The Lord Jesus gives me the ability to see the way an artist sees. He’s the one who put me on jobs with prestigious clients—projects other painters would be jealous of. But for me, it’s not about the client; it’s about the challenge and fun of succeeding in the painting itself. It’s the Lord who puts the “how to” in me. From my viewpoint, I’m never in competition with anyone, because I know the Lord is my source and promoter, and I look to Him. I don’t have to compete.

 

If it seems that people are trying to compete with you, don’t let it bother you. Be happy with who you are. You are only in a position that others may covet because God put you there. He can do it for them too.

 

Psalm 75:5-7 tells us promotion is from the Lord: “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

 

David was a great warrior because God made him that way. And Saul started off with the God-given ability to be a great King, but Saul got covetous of what David had, and it drove him to mental illness and possession by evil spirits. 1 Samuel 18: 6-12 tells us:

 

“When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals.

 

“This was their song: ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!’

 

“This made Saul very angry. ‘What’s this?’ he said. ‘They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!’

 

“So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman.

 

“David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand, and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.

 

“Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul.”

 

Saul was stubborn. Instead of being happy with the talents God gave him, He wanted what David had. But he couldn’t have it and because of his stubborn ambition, he also lost his kingship. 1 Samuel 15:23 says: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity [sin in your ancestors, passed down to you] and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

 

Meanwhile, God showed David how to avoid Saul, and David kept his heart in the Lord.

 

So don’t worry if you feel others may be a little jealous of you. Just keep looking to Jesus and be happy with yourself. Let’s be humble and thankful because all the good things we are, came from Him. Other people don’t need to be covetous. They can be just as happy as we are if they just do what we do—humbling ourselves to Him in everything we do and in every decision.

 

1 Peter 5:6 is the best step to promotion: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” It’s God’s Word. It always works.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

LIFE LESSONS * * * !!!    WINGS: A JOURNEY IN FAITH      Digital or in PAPERBACK https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Carolyn+Molica&crid=1OFRWWKMWKP0H&sprefix=carolyn+molic%2Caps%2C233&ref=nb_sb_noss_2