In recent weeks, I’ve had the pleasure to meet up with several friends, some of whom I haven’t met for a while. As I listened to their goings-on and what they were doing in life, it occured to me that some of them were thriving and growing, and others, less so. One reason was simply because they were able harness their natural gifts at their workplace, and therefore become more successful.
Some others, on the other hand, found it rough going. Sometimes it was because I saw that they were not playing to their strengths, and found themselves doing something that did not allow them to use their gifts to optimise their work performance and hence enjoyment. I saw how 6 months made a huge difference as it became clear that a friend of mine had become vastly more articulate, having now a very big picture view of certain processes, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her work. In a way, it was as if her work had magnified her gifts, and I was certain that she was primed for success.
To be good at certain things and thus crafting a niche that adds value is, of course, very different from being passionate about a certain kind of work. So I shall put the passion variable out for a moment and talk more specifically about gifts and aptitudes. And my question is: what ought we do with our gifts?
I guess at the broadest level, our gifts may give us a clue of what kind of work we may be best suited to do, what sort of industries we might feel comfortable working in. Beyond that, they also make up our potential; how, given this or that gifts, so and so has the potential to really be very successful in his/her field. These were the kinds of talk bandied about and it did make me wonder a little about my gifts and my suitability for my job and how it would aid my career.
Obviously, if you know anything about me, if I were given just a little time to daydream, I’d often gravitate towards daydreaming about how awesome I could turn out to be. How I could use my gifts so excellently that one day I could make such a huge difference to the organization and perhaps to society. I guess the people around me also had faith in my potential. And then, in a timely manner, I snapped out of it.
When Christians think of gifts, we think of them as being blessings gifted from God; blessings we need to use well if we want to be good stewards. To be frank, most of us don’t really know what to do with it, or how we ought to use it well. In any case, the good Asian parent would say that excelling in them would be the perfect way to glorify God. Through the years, I’ve come to see that this is very pernicious thinking. A kind of specious biblical adage that parents love to repeat. But we are being disingenuous because it’s not clear how we are necessarily glorifying God when we use our gifts excellently.
Obviously, these are not necessarily falsehoods as well. Yes, it is true that if we excel in what we do, and intentionally use them in certain ways, we can glorify God. But if we are being honest and if we truly think we are working for our master, and that the kingdom is truly important, then we must draw attention to Jesus in very explicit ways as truly ‘glorifying god’ through our gifts:
We can be so good at our work that we help those that are weaker, and in doing so, tell them about God’s love and compassion for us, and show them that we are willing to love and care for others despite being competitors. We can use them so excellently in work in ways that clearly add value to society, by growing an organization that helps to set important agendas for society that can bring positive change; and then one day when we can give a speech, perhaps we can speak of what really motivated us, and how Jesus truly saves. But that’s surely a more roundabout way isn’t it? And how often do we forget to even utter his name?
Having spoken to many on the topic of career and working life, there are always endless considerations to weigh, and so too, very many wonderful analyses pointed out by analytically sharp friends. You know, there are one million and one ways you can get your career to advance, and so many different things you can watch out for or do. Yet one friend spoke something vastly different. He mentioned that work-life balance is really important. Because it’s important to have sufficient time and energy to serve God and others within and without the church. Now that’s something new.
Now then, notwithstanding the various ways we can serve our colleagues at work, or to see our work as a kind of service to others and God, might we then consider a slightly different perspective to work and giftings? What if we saw our gifts as opportunities to be so efficient at our work – not so much to get a much vaunted position or promotion – but so that we can spare more time to invest in lives outside of our vocation? What if, instead of the 8 hours it typically takes, we are so gifted that we can complete our work in 4 – not so that we take on more and expedite our career progression, but so that we can put work aside and put the remaining 4 hours to prepare for a bible study?
Nothing I have said should suggest that we don’t put our best effort into doing the work we are assigned. Rather, I’m suggesting that we should use our gifts well so that we have more opportunities to bless others with God’s word – in a way, a more direct way of speaking, thinking, and singing of God in our lives. As I prepare to journey through a new chapter of my life, I look back fearfully at every little thing I’ve written about adulthood and working life – many Christian men and women seem to be too absorbed by it, so much so the flame that once so passionately glowed for Christ now flares for another purpose. I fear the same for myself.
J.I. Packer once described Christian endurance as a long-distance race, and we all need to persevere for that prize of final glory. What what does that require?
“… what perseverance requires is a sustained exertion of concentrated effort day in and day out – a single-minded, whole-hearted, self-denying, flat-out commitment to praising and pleasing the Father through the Son as long as life lasts… This sustained inward effort, raised to the limit of what you can do with your brains, gifts, and energy God has given you, is one central aspect of Christian holiness, one without which a person’s supposed holiness would degenerate into self-indulgent softness.”
J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness
If correct, then it means our entire lives are a constant struggle, a battle which will become incredibly costly if we allow complacency to fester. As long as we breathe, we strive to please the Father through the son. And anything beyond that is noise. Notice here that Packer does refer to our gifts; and unlike what our parents or friends or career counsellors may make it out to be, our gifts are only one of the many things that if used properly, could aid us towards sustaining that inward effort to please God.
Imagine then if we used our gifts so excellently, thus leaving us more time not to do more, but to do less – to ponder and rest upon God’s words. What if we could reserve more time to help other working folk hear God speak his word to their lives again, to remind them of the kingdom they belong to, to sing His word to them and together submit prayers and supplication in the name of the Son?
D.A. Carson once exposited Matthew 25, referring to it as one of Matthew’s kingdom parables. v14-30 records the familiar parable of the talents, in which those that had used the given ‘talents’ well and brought returns to investments for the master were well rewarded. This passage has often been explained as us using our gifts well as good stewards, bringing glory to God.
But Carson tells us that this can be read in similar terms as the command in Chapter 6 to lay up our treasures in heaven – in which we are encouraged not mainly to ‘guard our hearts’, but actually to choose our treasure. Here, in Chapter 25, we are to improve our master’s assets. But how? Through increasing conformity to Christ: by witnessing to others, giving, suffering for good, growing in righteousness. These are all treasures moth and rust cannot destroy.
If true, then in a sense, even our gifts do not truly matter in God’s economy; and it is the development of Christlike character that is truly a return to investment – an effort that will earn the praise of our master on that day. May we then use our gifts in ways that help us better enlarge his kingdom and mould our character, as we persevere to preach the word to others.
Signing off,
Fatpine.
fatpine 