Thursday Thoughts Newsletter is your weekly dose of 3 brief ideas from me, 2 quotes I’ve recently enjoyed from others, and 1 question for you as you go about your week.
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3 Brief Ideas
Idea #1: Too often in the church and in Christian culture, we wrongly believe that ‘Giftedness = Godliness.’ We assume that if God has granted someone great gifts and special talents to accomplish His work on earth (such as inspiring gifts of leadership, preaching, teaching, wisdom, charisma, counseling, etc.), it must be because they have proven themselves more mature and more godly than most. After all, God would only entrust such talents and abilities to someone like that anyways, right? Surely, they would be more faithful and trustworthy—at least, we’d think.
Perhaps at times God does grant particular giftedness towards an individual who has been walking with Him many years because He knows they would be more faithful and trustworthy than most. But maybe God doesn’t, too. What’s clear, according to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, is that particular giftedness is not the result of personal godliness, but the Spirit’s providential giving. Said another way, Character ≠ Competence.
The implications that Giftedness ≠ Godliness are important to tease out. For instance, if ‘Giftedness = Godliness’ is true, then that would mean we would only be able to measure godliness against giftedness—and necessarily against one another! But the Bible never describes godliness or giftedness in terms of a competition or as a sign of superiority. If so, this system of ‘godliness’ would produce more comparison, envy, despair, and pride—not less. Only if ‘Giftedness ≠ Godliness’ does the Christian life finally become about faithfulness to God instead of competition against one another or superiority over one another. Only then will godliness finally become an end unto itself, not a means to another end, i.e., giftedness. Only if giftedness is not earned—and it is only received by God for the purposes of stewarding for God—will it lead to godliness.
Practically speaking, when ‘Giftedness ≠ Godliness’, this means that the ‘especially-gifted’ are now just as in need for maturity, accountability, and humility as every other Christian. The assumption that ‘Giftedness = Godliness’ is a spiraling slope towards godless-living because it can be stealthily concealed behind the dark, thin veneer of ‘doing great work for God’—where pride comes before a fall. The truth that ‘Giftedness ≠ Godliness’, however, leads an individual upwards on the straight and narrow, and closer and closer towards the light. Why? Because it leads to a sobering conviction that even the ‘especially gifted’ are not above falling; are not above dependence on Christian community; and are not above vulnerability and struggle. The truth of ‘Giftedness ≠ Godliness’ is incredibly humanizing, sanctifying, and sobering: indeed, it alone leads to godliness.
Idea #2: Whatever you idolize, you ruin. Why? Because when you apply God-like expectations on people, places, or things that are, of course, not God—that God-like pressure will crush them as much as it will disappoint you. If you were made to be satisfied only by an eternal and unconditional statement of acceptance, approval, and love—a reconciled relationship with God—then why do we so frequently and willing depend on the earthly and conditional to give our souls what it fundamentally cannot give?
Idea #3: If you’re a Christian, your greatest strength in life is who God is to you in Christ. That takes a lot of pressure on things we’d otherwise put too much weight on, and it puts a lot of peace in things we’d otherwise feel so hopeless in.
2 Quotes From Others
“Fame is not the opposite of faithfulness. But the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.” —Andy Crouch
“Everyone is being discipled. The question is, ‘What is discipling us?’” —JT English
1 Question For You
In light of certain moral failures from prominent Christian leaders as of recent—known for their conference talks, books, and sermons that might have even inspired and impacted you deeply in life-changing, Jesus-exalting ways—how does the truth of God’s Word that ‘Giftedness ≠ Godliness’ impact your perspective and experience? How does it affect even the way you view your own giftedness with which God has blessed you?
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Thanks again for following along, see you again next week!
AG
