You
wouldn’t give your 5-year-old a 12-gauge shotgun or a big Harley-Davidson
motorcycle. Shotguns and motorcycles are great – but they’re for adults. You
need maturity to handle them. Giving such gifts to your child would endanger
them, and everybody else around them. The gifts just don’t fit the person.
Perhaps
you’re a talented individual. God’s given you some large gifts like the ability
to speak well, or organize things, or create and design. But we sabotage
ourselves when our gift becomes bigger than we are. How does this happen?
When
we begin to lean on the talents God gave us and don’t mature emotionally and
spiritually – we ruin our chance to use those talents as God designed them.
When our character doesn’t keep up with our talent, we learn to “wing it”
through life. We live on the surface but lack real strength underneath. And it
shows up when the crisis hits, the storm comes, or we are under pressure. You
can’t “wing it” when it comes to character building.
The greater the size of your gifts, the more you must dedicate time to developing your character.
Eugene
Peterson paraphrases the Psalmist in The Message: “God, who gets invited to
dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list? Walk straight, act
right, tell the truth. Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor;
despise the despicable. Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest
living, never take a bribe. You’ll never get blacklisted if you live like this”
(Ps 15:1-5 TM).
So, do you live that way?
"O
Lord, who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with Integrity." - Psalm 15:1-2 (NAS)
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