How To Use Your Talents For God

How does one use their talents for God? Do you know? I have personally struggled with this one since I became aware of it. I was born and raised a Christian, so for me, the bible has answers to everything. Honestly, sometimes, the bible leaves me with more questions than answers and I don’t know if it’s because I’m being too logical or if my faith is even smaller than a mustard seed. Still, I have always pondered: how do you use tour talents for God?

What is Talent anyway? 

The dictionary meaning says it’s “a special natural ability or aptitude,” and I would certainly agree with this definition. However, when the bible talks about talents in the parable of talents (Matthew 25:14-30), I think it was referring to resources in the form of money and actual talent/gifts.

There are some other bible verses that discuss talent, like:

1.  James 1:17 – “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.^a] He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”

2.  1 Corinthians 12:5-6 –  “There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” 

3.  1 Peter 4:10-11 – “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ¹¹ Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”

There are more bible verses, but I’ll stop here. And in case you are wondering, these are all from the New Living Translation version of the bible.

So, what does it mean to use your talents for God?

When I was younger, my understanding of using your talents for God was that you were to use it in a very direct Christian way. For example, if you can sing, then you should only be singing Christian songs. If you can write like me, you should only be writing about God. This used to be my understanding, and I don’t need to show you everything I have written that is NOT about God. I mean, have you met me? Today, however, I no longer feel that the only way to use your talents for God is by doing it so directly. There are “indirect” ways of using your talents for God, too. For example, if you are a singer, maybe you sing songs that change and move people. They could be songs about love, empowerment, money, etc.

Now, here’s where the confusion sets in. The third verse I mentioned – 1 Peter 4:10-11 mentions that you should use your talents well, and that when you do, everything you do will bring glory to God. So, let’s go back to that example of the singer.

Let’s use Beyonce here. I’ve never attended her concert, and I can count how many of her songs I have on my playlists, but I respect her so much. I respect her worth ethic, and I have written about this before. I respect the way she uses her voice and influence. I love that she is a young, black woman who has grown in stature, fame, wealth, influence, and impact. I love all of it.

One of my favorite Beyonce songs is Flawless, and no, it’s not because it features Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – although that’s icing on the cake. For me, however, the song does a fantastic job of gingering me. I don’t typically watch music videos, but I’ve watched this one a few times several times. I love that it’s black and white. I love her tear-tear short knicker, and I love the long-sleeve plaid shirt she tucked into it, and I love the fishnet tights, too. I love her short hair. The song itself pumps me up, pushes me to validate myself, and reminds me that I really did wake up like this. It awakens the bad bitch in me. And my, do I love that bad bitch. She does not show up in real life nearly as much as she does in my head, but songs like this do something for me. Oh, another song I like is the Formation song.

But this is where things get tricky. Would Beyonce count as someone who is using her talents? I think yes, she absolutely is. A follow-up question would be if the way she uses her talents is glorifying God? She calls herself a bitch, uses other naughty words, and dresses scantily. But I’m sure there’s a girl somewhere who listens to Beyonce and decides to try one more time or maybe walk out of an abusive relationship or maybe level up.

Let’s leave Beyonce out of this for a second. Let’s use Vera instead. On this blog and on the podcast, I try to be as authentic as possible. But authenticity means that sometimes I say or write things that make you cringe and feel uncomfortable and dirty. Authenticity means that sometimes I have guests whose lifestyle you do not agree with. Some of you were upset about my last email because I asked you to love people who were different from you — like gay people. And you unsubscribed. And really, that’s okay. It’s not helpful to me or you if you receive my emails and don’t care for their content. But I digress. [Side note: if you’re not subscribed, the form is at the bottom of this post]

Sometimes, I cannot help but wonder if I’m making God proud. People always reach out and tell me what a difference I have made in their life, but is that even enough? Could I be doing more? Am I using the talents He has put inside me? Am I using all of them? Honestly, I am not using all my talents yet. I already know this. But for the ones I’m using, am I using them adequately? Am I glorifying Him in the way(s) I use my talents? Is He sitting up there, looking down at me and saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant?”  And apart from dying, is there another way I can speak to Him face-to-face and ask Him these questions? It’d be really nice to know for sure.

Again, what does it mean to use your talents for God?