Gratitude Series — Session 2: Talent
Seeing Your Gifts Through a Kingdom Lens
As a reminder, throughout the month of November we’re calibrating our VISION—how we see our time, talent, and treasure—and letting that renewed perspective guide our ACTIONS.
Leveraging Your Talents
This week we’re talking about leveraging your talents. Everyone is gifted in some way—not because you’re better than anyone else, but because God designed you intentionally. Your gifts are not random. They are divine assets placed in you for the sake of the Kingdom.
I want to encourage you to find and lean into those giftings and talents. God gave them to you for a reason. Don’t waste them!
Discovering Your Talents
Your talents aren’t limited to spiritual gifts, they might look like:
Accounting
Creativity
Administration
Community engagement
They also include:
Skills
Passions
Interests
Things that come naturally
Pause and Reflect
What are some of the things you’re passionate about?
What do you find yourself drawn to doing in spare time?
What are some things that come natural to you? Things you find enjoyable or energizing?
Answering some of those questions could help you identify some of your talents/passions.
The Body Needs Every Part
Paul compares believers to a body with many parts—each different, each essential. When we as believers use our talents for the sake of furthering the gospel, the mission of the church is advanced.
We as a body need each and every member, which means that we need YOU and your unique giftings/talents; the unique giftings God placed within you.
Employ your talents for the gospel, because it is what we are called to do. 1 Peter 4:10 also tells us that each of us are gifted with talents, and that we are to use them as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Great Power, Great Responsibility
Just like Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility,” the same can be said of the gifted believer.
And all of you are gifted!
Do not give in to or believe the lie that you are not gifted for works of ministry. You are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, for the good works that He prepared beforehand for you to do.
He won’t leave you high and dry. He gave you the Holy Spirit, and with that anointing, comes talents which God created within you to use for the advancement of the kingdom.
Gratitude and Stewardship Go Hand in Hand
At SUMMIT, we believe that gratitude and stewardship are closely related.
When you use what God has given you for His purposes, something shifts in your heart: you can’t help but be filled with gratitude and a sense of humility that you were a part of the mission of the church. That makes you want to steward your talents even better.
As Theodore Roosevelt said:
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us; much will be expected from us,
and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips,
and shows itself in deeds.”
So—How Are You Using Your Talents?
Do you have an outlet?
If you’re looking for a meaningful way to use your talents, consider serving with us at SUMMIT Outdoor Leadership. We can always use willing hands to help us accomplish the calling God has placed on our hearts and in our lives. You can join us in that calling, too!