Consecrated Talent

One thing I have enjoyed doing all through my ministry as a pastor is encouraging people to recognize their gifts and talents and consecrate them to God. We all have been given gifts with no exceptions, but not all believers utilize their gifts for God’s glory.

The book of Exodus describes two men who were given extraordinary gifts to do artistic work, "See, I have chosen Bezalel …and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts” (Exodus 31:1-3). God gave creative abilities to Bezalel and Oholiab to create things of beauty for his tabernacle.

Art has the power to influence our culture. What is happening in the arts today is indicative of what will happen in our world tomorrow. So when Christians abandon artistic pursuits, we lose an important opportunity to share the gospel in our culture. From the pictures we paint, to the music we listen to, to the clothes we wear— they are all designed by artists. They are all vehicles to express our world view and to glorify God.

Bezalel was the craftsman and Oholiab was his skilled assistant. It is interesting that God chose and equipped these men for this job. Their names underscore their dependence on God. Bezalel means "in the shadow of God." The meaning of Oholiab's name is: "my tent is the Father-God."

I can imagine these men as they began working on this important and holy project for Moses. They knew this was to be done for God’s glory, so they put their heart and soul into their work. Whether they were building, sewing, casting, stonecutting, or engraving, they did it with great care.

One of the reasons we see such a scarcity of good art and design in areas of our lives is because Christians have not pursued many artistic areas of life. We have left them to non-believers whose art often does not reflect a redemptive view of humanity.

If we have been given a talent, we should dedicate it to God and use it for his glory. Not only does this give us purpose, but it also is our expression of our love for God. Our work can praise God and point people to his goodness. Johann Sebastian Bach was famous for signing his works with the letters "sDg," meaning soli Deo gloria - to God alone be the glory. In the same way, every artist whose talents are consecrated to Christ will pro­duce art for God's glory.^[i]

Paul wrote the Colossians these words: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,” (Colossians 3:23). This is the correct attitude for everything we do in life. If our talent is consecrated to God, then our work will be for God’s glory regardless of what company we work for.

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[i] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL 2005, PP. 947-954.

Learning to Control Anger

As a counselor I deal with people on a regular basis who have trouble controlling their anger. I hear all kinds of reasons why they are angry, with the majority of people blaming someone else for their problem. Most of the time people are angry because they are self-centered and they haven’t learned to delay gratification. Who hasn’t seen a two-year-old get angry and begin sulking because he doesn’t get his way? Really, when you see an adult with an explosive anger problem, you are looking at an adult with a two-year-old capacity for self-control.

Most of the time people use their anger to control other people. Anger is an effective tool, albeit dysfunctional. That is it works as long as the other person is willing to respond to the anger. Solomon said, “A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty; if you rescue him, you will have to do it again” (Proverbs 19:19). Every time we respond by doing or not doing what some angry person wants from us, we are enabling their anger problem. We are coming to their rescue each time, the same way we do for a small child.

When a person is angry at someone for not responding the way they want them to, they are showing they have no self-control. That’s why we often refer to angry people as people who “lose it.” The person who is angry is the person with the problem. The challenge comes when you choose to allow the anger to stay in the other person and not to allow it to make you angry. As long as we allow the other person’s anger to control us, we will remain in bondage to them. Anger is so often a cue for us to do something. We feel the need to get the angry person’s approval or to defend ourselves with responding anger. However, neither of these approaches will help either person. When we respond appropriately by speaking the truth in love and with the right attitude, we are obligating the other person to choose how they will respond to us.^[i]

Sometimes that means we will say something like “I’m not going to allow you to yell at me. When you calm down and want to talk, I will listen.” Such a response often times helps the angry person learn self-control. They will at least learn that their angry rages won’t work on you anymore, and they will choose another method of communication. Most importantly, they will learn you cannot be controlled as you demonstrate you don’t have to respond in anger to anger.

There are always consequences to these kinds of choices. Perhaps the person decides not to talk you at all or to cut you off. You risk that consequence if you want freedom from another person’s dysfunctional anger. There is great freedom in learning self-control.

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[i] Henry Cloud & John Townsend, Boundaries, Zondervan, Nashville, TN 1992, PP. 248-249.