WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR GOD GIVEN TALENT?

In today's world, people are engaged in varied professions - entertainment, sports, education, science, politics, pastoral, trading, etc.

In most of these professions, the practitioners are usually interested in one thing: advancing their own interest and making money in the process.

In fact, there are people who have called themselves self-made millionaires or billionaires.

To such individuals, they have made success of life by their sheer hard work. Some talk about luck and discuss how lucky that man or that woman is, to have made a fortune in their chosen profession.

It is only very few people who ever acknowledge God as the One who has made the success possible.

It is because of this tendency of failing to acknowledge the Almighty, that God reminded the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:18, "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day."

Dear friend, it is God who created us, gave us life, health and all the resources we have at our disposal to create success of life. God created mankind in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) and gave us dominion over all other creation.

This means man is only limited by his knowledge because God has given man abundance of talent and resources to excel in any chosen endeavour. The human brain is one of the greatest creations of history and it is ONLY God who can create such resource of priceless value.

In fact, research has shown that humans use only a tiny fraction of their brains in their life time and those we refer to as "genius" only use about 5% of their brains!

The picture I am trying to bring out here, dear friend, is for you to appreciate the enormity of God's investment in the creation of mankind. There is no other creation of God as magnificent as human beings - and the Almighty Father did it out of His immense love for us.

Having said this, it is then so sad to see millions of human beings all over the world either wasting away or using their brain, their God given talent, for evil! Millions and millions of people are engaged in vices of astonishing proportions and this is certainly not God's intention or plan for mankind.

Man has deviated so much from God's plan and this is why God even regretted creating mankind as stated in Genesis 6:5-6 "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."

As history states in the Bible, the Word of God, God went ahead to destroy the world with water, and started another generation with Noah's descendants (Genesis 6-9) who have filled all parts of the earth.

However, God in His infinite love and mercy still had to send our Lord Jesus Christ, our Messiah and Son of God, into the world to shed His precious blood and die on the Cross of Calvary to redeem mankind from the sin of disobedience of God's commands by Adam and Eve when the devil deceived them at the beginning.

Our Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer a most painful and shameful death on the Cross, all for our sake! As many as believe this Gospel message of repentance and salvation and accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives, will be saved.

What this therefore means, dear friend, is that for anyone who claims to have surrended his or her life to Jesus Christ, our Messiah and King, such person is expected to live in total obedience to the Lord's commands found in one place ONLY, His Word or the Holy Bible.

What this also means is that whatever talent God has given you, MUST be used to advance God's Kingdom on earth and the Great Commission to all Christians to go and make disciples of all nations, commanding them to obey the teachings of Jesus Christ and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20).

Dear friend, if you are a Christian and all you are interested in doing is making money for yourself on this earth, then you are misusing the talent God has given you. This is why the Word of God states in Romans 12:5-6 "so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Having then GIFTS differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."

Dear friend, you can see from God's Word today that every human being is given a gift from the grace that is available to all from a God and Father of our Saviour Jesus Christ who loves us so much and wants us to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Indeed, I know my talent God has given me, which is the gift of writing and teaching, which as you read this now, you see it is for advancing the Kingdom of God by spreading the Gospel over the internet to all nations as Christ has commanded.

Is your talent in singing? Please use it to sing praises and about the greatness and goodness of God. Is your talent any of the ones listed in the Word of God in Romans 12:5-6?

Then use such talent to glorify God Almighty.

This is why Christians should feel compassion and pray earnestly for people who use their talent to make money ALONE or to glorify satan, e.g. musicians who sing worldly music with lurid and offensive lyrics, artists who make worldly movies with pornographic and offensive scenes in them.

We have people in many different professions who use their talents to deceive and defraud others all in a bid to make money.

If God is your Father, and Jesus Christ your Messiah and the Holy Spirit your Comforter and Guide, it would not be difficult to use your talent to advance God's interest, which is for mankind to repent genuinely, forsake evil and return to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You cannot claim to be a Christian and your very lifestyle or talent is use to do things that are offensive to God and go against His commands. That, dear friend, is rebellion and God will not take it lightly with anyone who rebels against Him (1 Samuel 12:15).

This is the reason why satan and his demons have been condemned to HELL FIRE FOREVER AND EVER - they rebelled against God their Creator. Unfortunately, any person, who rebels against God will end up in HELL FIRE FOREVER AND EVER with satan and demons.

Dear friend, today, as you read, once again, represents another invitation from our Lord Jesus Christ to examine your life and see where you have gone wrong and retrace your steps before it is too late.

Now that you know, please desist going forward, from using your God given talent for evil or in things that do not edify God. Rather, engage in thoughts, words, deeds and reactions that edify God and edify you as a child of God.

May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.