I Am More Than My Giftings

I am more than my giftings.

The world unconsciously defines people by what they do. When you’re a kid you see firefighters and astronauts and teachers and you think, “Oh, they’re always firefighters and astronauts and teachers!” You don’t think about them having lives beyond that. You don’t think about them having lives at all. They are just people with high-power hoses or spacesuits or desks.

The age of influencers has also perpetuated this a little bit, but instead by showing aesthetic lifestyles or diet regimes, to the point that you wonder, “How does this person manage to keep their house so nice? How does their hair and makeup always look so perfect?” Well, it doesn’t, it’s an illusion, but since we only see the perfect side we either think they’re always perfect or that everyone is fake. And the fakeness, in our minds, becomes their identity.

It’s easy to do this to other people because often that’s all we see. We usually don’t see behind the cameras, we usually don’t know the people when they leave the firehouse or come back to earth or finish a schoolday. In some ways, it’s even forgivable or necessary—after all, if your friendly neighborhood firefighter is on the job, you probably don’t want to jump in asking how they spent their weekend.

But when we do this sort of thing to ourselves, the boxing up of identity, the results can be very different. Sometimes we do it without thinking about it, sometimes we truly believe we are the sum of the things we do. I would theorize that artists struggle with this in a peculiar way, since often their art is what they do for work and fun and is what they are known for.

We are all given gifts and talents, of course: Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s handwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows.” But it can be so easy to misunderstand and misuse the things God gives us. When you base your whole identity around what you can do, what happens when you aren’t doing that thing? When you can’t do that thing? What if you fail in the eyes of the critics? Who are you then?

In his book Hosting the Presence, pastor Bill Johnson discusses just that—hosting God, letting Him live and work among us. And he has some things to say on this topic, starting with a chapter on Moses, leader of the Israelites.

Johnson talks about Moses’s calling to be a prophet, to speak for God to the people, and about the close relationship he had with Him as a result. But Johnson stresses this, “His [Moses’s] whole identity was not to be in his skills, training, or popularity. It wasn’t his gifts or even his anointing. It boiled down to one thing: ‘You’re the one I want to be with.’ . . . God knew Whose he was.”

If we look at it in that light, our perception of ourselves should be shaken. Whatever we believe or say or do, we have to remember first that we are adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God. And yes, He gives us talents and blessings and passions, but in the end He chose us to “be holy and without blame before Him in love,” since He has predestined us to adoption (Ephesians 1:4-6). This should never be forgotten or taken lightly.

When our identity is works-based, we fall into the ‘what-am-I-worth’ game, especially if we are unable to meet the standards set for us (and especially if we are the ones setting the standards). In that way, we begin viewing things as ours that sometimes really shouldn’t be. ‘Our’ gifts, ‘our’ talents, ‘our’ works . . . but if our gifts were given to us, they can be taken away. We did not give ourselves our talents.

The last one is most important of all: if we view ourselves as children of God (since we are), and yet view our works as ‘ours’ or for ourselves, what does that say about us? It can become a form of idolatry.

Meanwhile, David says in Psalm 139:14, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” His works. If we are ever elevating ‘our’ works above His, or forgetting Who gave us the skill, strength, passion, whatever, to do such works, we are going the wrong way.

Bill Johnson points out that we are “uniquely positioned in this world because of the cry of other people.” God’s favor, he says, is on us so we can be a part of His plan. Moses, the one God liked to be with, was called to bring the Israelites out so they could worship. “God often chooses people knowing that they are the key to touching other people’s lives,” he says. We are not chosen because being chosen will make us happy or productive or successful or famous—all things we may start believing if we view things the wrong way. Being reminded we are more than our giftings makes us more willing to be humble, to avoid being something we’re not, and to serve God wholeheartedly. 

Johnson talks about Jesus’s parable of the seed that fell on thorns: “He has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction . . . arises . . . immediately he falls away” (Matthew 13:21). The parable is specifically about hearing and listening to God’s Word, but it can easily apply here. A foundation based on works is only so strong. An identity based on talent will only last so long. Somewhere we will fail, our dreams will not line up the way we expect, we will experience setbacks—something will derail us (hopefully only temporarily) and cause us to question everything we thought we knew.

In some ways even worse, a foundation like this makes us prideful, with our works as our strength. And what is pride but another form of idolatry? It is not the same thing as confidence, which God Himself gives us: “We are [not] competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). The Source should be constant in our minds, working with us in a mutual relationship: God gives us gifts, we use those gifts to the best of our ability for His glory and so draw near to Him and bless those around us.

And He promises to give wisdom to anyone who asks, to meet all our needs, and to bless us in our efforts. Johnson sums it up nicely: “Burn with passion no matter what, but maintain humility, being the servant of all.” He adds, “Anyone who knows who God made them to be will never try to be someone else.”