Talents, Skills, Or Gifts

For at least the first 35 years of my life, words had meaning that never changed. Although new slang terms might emerge or become more popular, the English language itself remained unchanged. However, certain words have always had multiple meanings or pronunciations depending on their usage, which made the English class more challenging.

Terms such as talents, skills, and gifts are frequently used interchangeably because they convey similar meanings. My use of “gifts” in this discussion is not about an item you give someone on their birthday. Someone might say a person has a God given gift of “….,” but that can be confused with the term “spiritual gifts.” In the Bible, “Spiritual Gifts” refer to unique skills or talents that a person receives from the Holy Spirit upon their salvation. That gift or gifts help equip that person to do something for God’s purpose.

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 our 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.
Romans 12:6-8 New King James Version

So, our salvation was not something we earned but was provided by Grace. By accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and master, we are given abilities to show our new creation. What we do with these gifts will not affect our ability to get into Heaven; however, it will demonstrate our desire and willingness to share what salvation means to us.

“The Parable of the Talents,” a lesson taught by Jesus, appears in Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27. Jesus used a parable to communicate a message in a way that his followers (true believers) would understand one way, but it would confuse those who did not believe in him. The non-believers only understand the word “talents” to mean money as it was used in that time; however, today we use “talents” to describe the ability to do something better than the average – “She is a very talented singer or artist.” Read the parable again and think about being given one of the spiritual gifts, like “exhortation,” and having received an ability at birth that allowed you to learn to sing better than average.

If you do nothing to increase your ability and you do not share that talent to glorify God, you are just keeping it safe. Contrary, if you believe God gave you a gift and then gave you a challenge to use that gift to glorify Him, you put the hard work into developing your skill, and then using it to glorify God, that is the example of the one who was given 5 Talents who doubled it to 10.

The Bible tells us that what works we do or how good we are will not be enough to save us from our sins, but the Bible also tells us that God equips us with abilities to do good things for others on God’s behalf that will be acknowledged in Heaven. People often miss how much happiness comes from fulfilling God’s work on Earth.

Eva possessed singing abilities that greatly surpassed my own. She believed God called her to use that gift to glorify Him, and she put in the work required to do the best she could. Eva was a positive and happy person who loved her family with all her heart. Singing for the Lord brought her great joy throughout much of her life, though she lost that happiness in her final months; I believe it has now returned to her.