Without Compromise, pt. 3: Use Your Abilities
When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon). When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students. As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”).
The story’s underlying basis is this: In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured. In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3). Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20). But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.
How did they do it? One way was by their unique giftedness for God’s purpose.
Daniel 1, verses 3, 4, and 17 together highlight the specific set of gifts and abilities that characterized Daniel and his friends. Some of those were the required skills and abilities for acceptance into the program of study that they entered (verses 3-4), and some were very specific to these young men (verse 4). When I look at that list of abilities, I see three categories: natural abilities (those abilities that were part of how they were uniquely designed and created by God), God-given abilities (those abilities that God specifically endowed to them for a particular purpose), and spiritual gifts (those abilities that they received as part of their spiritual nature). It is important to note that these attributes are not specific directives of the gifts you have to have in order to succeed or be used by God, but rather their abilities were unique to them and specific to the needs of the circumstances. Therefore, they serve as a picture of how God will also give you the required abilities for the task to which He calls you.
What we need to take away from this is that God has gifted you and me with talents and abilities that are unique to each of us, and He wants to (and can) use them for His purpose. He has given us natural abilities, God-given abilities, spiritual gifts, each with intention. What matters is not that you or I have the best ability, but rather that you and I are true to the abilities God has given each of us and that we use them for the task or purpose to which He has called us to carry out. In the process, there is value in being excellent, and for that reason, we need to learn to use our abilities in the best way possible so that they represent Christ and establish credibility.
The lesson we learn from Daniel in this is the Lesson of Ability: God has gifted you with talents and abilities that are unique to you, and He wants to use them for His purpose. How will you develop them, and what will you do with them?
