Talented or Gifted?

by Lynn Ridenhour

"And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said unto them, "Follow Me, land I will make you become fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them…"--Mark 1:16-20

I find it interesting—when the Lord called Simon & Andrew, they were "casting a net into the sea…" When he called James & John, they were "…in the boat mending their nets…" Simon & Andrew were casting their nets while James & John were mending their nets.

Oftentimes the Lord takes our natural talents and turns them into supernatural gifts.

Peter and Andrew (especially Peter) later became great evangelists of the Church while James and John became great pastors. Peter & Andrew’s natural talent for casting became their supernatural gift of evangelism and James & John’s natural talent for mending became their supernatural gift for shepherding. I find that metamorphosis—turning one’s talent into a supernatural gift—both intriguing and scary.

Our brief debate over Wade Hankins illustrates my point. Was Wade talented or gifted?  Was it his charismatic personality or God’s charismatic gifts that moved the people?  These are holy questions that tend to make me tremble. For they’re too close to home.

I know I have a charismatic personality (no, I’m not bragging). Of the four temperaments, I’m Sanguine. Type A all the way. The glass is always half full. In a little over three years I built a MLM downline, recruiting over 16,000 associates. There were some "Diamonds" in my organization who were ready to jump off a bridge with me.

Lord, that’s scary!  Our talent becomes our curse if not laid on the altar and slain every day. It is much easier to substitute our talents for his gifts.  Believe me, it’s a lot easier to convince a group of people to follow your charismatic personality than to get them to believe in His charismatic gifts. The latter takes prayer and repentance and confession and humility and painful honesty. And sometimes restitution. All those ugly things of the Spirit that cause our flesh to crawl.

There’s no getting around it. Our talents must die. Jesus said so.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain." --John 12:24

You know what scares me more than anything?  Me!

I have to really guard myself not to build the kingdom like I build my downline. I really, really, really have to take to heart Jesus’ saying, "….without Me you can do nothing…" (Jn.15:5).  I have to hammer home the "…nothing."  That means…nothing.  Nothing is nothing.  Nothing is a zero with the rim knocked off!  My will, my optimism, my ability to articulate, my sanguine personality—they add up to nothing without Him. I know we’re not to flog ourselves. This is not Hinduism.

Nevertheless, I need a miracle.  I need a resurrection.  And only God can do that. I need for God to resurrect my talents, which bear the stench of death.  I need for God to breathe upon them—lest in my drunken ego I lead a group of people over the edge. And call it ministry.

Lord, you transformed men and women of old by your gifts. Their talents became your gifts.

May our lives also become narratives of the power of your grace. Is my prayer.