The tension between using one’s God given talent and being a good steward of God given resources is an issue I keep returning to. I do believe that God gives people gifts that should be used – He sent the Spirit to the craftsmen of the Tabernacle as they used their skills. I also believe that the resources we have are blessings from God (not in the health and wealth sort of way), and we should use them wisely and unselfishly. But sometimes those two ideas collide.
If one is to sell all one has and give it to the poor, or even just live a modest lifestyle, it become fairly difficult to develop and use certain talents, even for the greater good. If one has the gift of music like David, the acquisition and upkeep of musical equipment costs a lot of money. Much time must be spent on practice which much be subsidized in some way. The same is true of any of the performing arts or sports – dance, skating, drama, skiing, cycling… A great deal of money is required to develop one’s talent in any of those areas. Generally only those who have money already and spend that money on themselves can develop that talent. Is that good stewardship?
It could be easy to just deny that certain things even qualify as “God-given talents.” The guitar player that leads our church band with his $1000 guitar can have talent from God, but the privileged white figure skater doesn’t count. Michaelangelo’s in, but the ballerina is out. And then what about the talents that are often scoffed at by Christians – especially emerging missional Christians? What about the fashion designer or the interior designer? Are their talent’s a gift if they feed lifestyles of greed and consumption? What about the person who is really really good at preaching? Are such skills meaningless? Or are they gifts from God?
The tension bothers me. There is the part of me that wants to affirm who people are and say that God gave them the skills to do certain things. And many of those skills can and have been used to serve God. But it is hard to reconcile how privileged one has to be in order to develop those talents. Even if one gives glory to God and blesses others with their talent are the vast amount of resources spent justified?
I have no answers, but this question returns to me every so often. I personally have spent lots of money developing who God made me to be (college comes to mind). I want to affirm developing talent, but I just can’t always justify it as good stewardship. Any thoughts?