3 Tips to Identify your Friend Confidant

Here are 3 Tips to Identify Your Confidants:

Trust Me – You Need This

We’re starting with an obvious question:

Can you trust them?

You’ll likely already have an idea of someone that you can confide in or you would like to become your confidant.

I encourage you to ask yourself:

Can I trust them?

You’ll only get the true value of having a confidant if you’re comfortable being vulnerable with them.

You won’t need to share your deepest, darkest secrets with them, but you do need to be able to share whatever you’re hoping to confide in them.

For example, I speak with Pejman Milaniand Hannah Wilson on an almost-daily basis, and I am comfortable speaking with them about the pitfalls of social media.

I’ve been able to confide in them transparently when I’ve been chasing the dopamine high of more likes and followers.

And I’ve been comfortable sharing my experience with them when facing the challenges of freelancing.

They’ve also seen me at my worst as I have wrestled with getting the balance right of pursuing my purpose while not neglecting revenue.

Without being able to share these things, I would’ve been trying to traverse this journey on my own.

But because they are both trustworthy, I’ve been able to invite them in to help me avoid that pitfalls and stay on the right path.

If you want to get the full value out of having confidants, you need to identify someone that you can truly trust.

🤨 “What Do You Mean?”

The second tip to identify a suitable confidant is finding someone who understands what you are talking about.

There’s nothing worse than having a confidant that constantly asks: 

“What do you mean?”

You’ll likely find the experience of having someone that you can confide in more infuriating than rewarding if you’re constantly having to explain what you’re going through.

Save yourself this frustration and find someone who has some understanding of the journey you’re on.

It doesn’t have to be that they’ve walked the same journey that you’re walking in its entirety, but they have to be aware of the rough area.

Going back to my example with PJ and Hannah, they’re both content creating and building online, but they’re doing it for different reasons and in different circumstances.

I’d like to think that I’m able to support Hannah and speak into her creative journey, but I’m not doing this full-time. I can’t exactly relate to the challenges she faces as a full-time visual creator.

Similarly, I support PJ on his creative journey, but I don’t know what it’s like to run live cohorts of a visual course whilst juggling parenthood and a full-time job! 

And they both speak immense value into my journey, though they don’t have the same mission of wanting to encourage people get wiser like I do.

But we all have a mutual understandingof visual communication, personal development and creating online.

If you’re looking to find confidants, identify people that have a sufficient understanding of what you’re looking to confide in.

Bakers Don’t Sell Smoothies

This is an unusual analogy, but stick with me – all will become clear.

Take a moment to imagine:

You’re looking to get into shape. 

You’ve been enjoying too many of the pastries and doughnuts from the local bakery, and so you decide that you need to lose some weight.

You’ve heard lots of great things about dieting, and in particular how smoothies are a great way to help get your 5-a-day.

So you head to your closest bakery, and ask for a banana and strawberry smoothie.

“We don’t do those. We only do baked goods.”

You probably should have known that. After all, you’ve never seen this bakery sell smoothies before, so why would you expect them to start doing smoothies just because you’re now interested in them?

Now you have a couple options:

• Either you go back to the bakery again at your next earliest opportunity and ask for another smoothie
• Or you opt to look elsewhere to find what you’re looking for

Obviously we’re not actually talking about diets, smoothies and bakeries here. 

What I’m trying to get at is that some people won’t be able to offer you what you’re looking for in a confidant.

They either won’t have the capacity or competency to help you in the way that you desire.

In these instances, look elsewhere.

You are much more likely to find your suitable confidant elsewhere than convince this person to step into the role you need them to fill.

These people may be able to grow and evolve into what you need in a confidant, but if there’s no indication from them that they’ll try to fill those expectations, don’t try to force it.

It’s tricky to convince your local bakery to start stocking smoothies.

To make it abundantly clear: I’m not suggesting that you cut these people from your life entirely.

Instead, I’m suggesting that you maintain whatever relationship you have with that person, and identify someone else to fulfils your needs for a confidant.

Ultimately you need to identify a confidant who is not only capable of being your confidant, but also identify someone who is willing to be your confidant.

Source: Wisdom Made Easy posted at Wiser Newsletter

How to be happy without trying so hard

By Dominica as posted in Daily Motivation

Most people want to feel happier emotions far more often than sad ones.

We want to feel happy and content and because of this, we do all sorts of things to try to experience such feelings. We tend to think if we work harder, make more money, read more books, have more friends, do more things, etc., that we’ll just feel happier.

It’s common to want to feel good and have our desires and dreams manifest. We want to feel and experience abundance. However, a problem arises when we don’t really know how to get from where we are, such as sad, frustrated, or miserable, to a state of happiness.

Here’s a little secret: It’s not as difficult as you think. 

The Law of Attraction: Like Attracts Like

Feeling happy and content consistently is not the monstrous job we make it out to be. It may be so simple that we miss it.

Listen to this quote by Joe Vitale:

“It’s really important that you feel good. Because this feeling good is what goes out as a signal into the universe and starts to attract more of itself to you. So the more you can feel good, the more you will attract the things that help you feel good and that will keep bringing you up higher and higher.

This sums up the law of attraction quite well.

The law of attraction has gotten pretty popular over recent years. The reason is because when people learn how to use the law to create a life they love, their life changes significantly for the better. The movie and book, The Secret, opened the eyes of millions of people to the power of thought and the law of attraction.

Basically, the law of attraction asserts that like attracts like.

It means that what you put your focus or energy on, you get more of the same. The thoughts you think act like a magnet and are attracting things to you all the time.  

You see, your thoughts affect your feelings, and your feelings affect your actions. If you are feeling terrible, chances are that your thoughts are predominantly negative. As a result of your negative thoughts and feelings, your actions will tend to be negative as well.

Feel Happier: Stop With the Negative Thoughts

For example, if you tend to think a lot about how unfair it was that your mom and dad divorced and you carry some resentment about it, you will wrestle with negative feelings like anger, depression, resentment, bitterness, and so on.  

Those negative feelings may cause you to be more apt to reach for substances that temporarily dull the pain, like alcohol or drugs. Or you may choose friends who are miserable or mean. Your thoughts influence your feelings and your feelings influence your behavior.

Should you understand these principles, then you can stop negativity and negative feelings from ruling your life.  

Now, I’m not saying you’ll never feel negative feelings, because you will. And, that’s alright. But we don’t have to stay stuck in these emotions long-term.

If you struggle with negative emotions or you simply want to have more control over your emotions, consider learning more about the law of attraction.

Everything is Energy

At the very core, everything in the world is energy, including your thoughts.  

If you know anything about energy, you understand that energy has certain vibrations known as frequencies. There are low frequencies and there are high frequencies and matter can fall in between on the scale. For example, negative thoughts and feelings have a lower frequency than positive thoughts. 

Have you ever heard people talk about the vibes of a person?  

They might say “He has great vibes,” or “Her vibes rub me the wrong way.” We are all emitting a frequency and our goal ought to be to emit higher frequencies. To raise your frequency, it is important to understand the law of attraction philosophy.

3 Ways to Raise Your Vibration and Feel Happier

1. Feel Abundant And Happy Now

If you want to feel good, it is important to raise your vibration to a higher level.  

How do you do that? 

This might sound so simple, but you simply have to FEEL GOOD in order to raise your vibration. 

Most people think it’s the other way around. They think that in order to experience positive emotions, certain things have to fall in place. They must get the promotion, the beautiful partner, the bonus, the new car, etc. in order to feel good, but it’s the opposite:

You must feel good first and THEN the good things come.

2. Monitor Your Thoughts Because They Lead to Feelings

It is so important to tend to your thoughts. If you are thinking negative thoughts, you are going to experience negative feelings, and therefore you will not feel that great. Although if you force yourself to think positively and feel good NOW, you will feel better!  

Not only will you feel good, but you will be attracting all sorts of positive things into your life.

3. Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Remember the catchy song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”? The lyrics go:

“In every life we have some trouble.

When you worry you make it double

Don’t worry, be happy

Don’t worry, be happy now.”

Seems like Bobby McFerrin, the writer of this song, understood a bit about the dynamics of the law of attraction, as he is quite right when he says, “When you worry you make it double.”

Your feelings now are what matter. Your feelings now dictate what is in your future. As tempting as it is to stay sad, angry, or frustrated, try not to. If you do, you may be attracting more of that into your life. 

Start to Feel Happier Now 

Feel happy now. Sing a song. Dance to some good music. Laugh out loud. Pet your cat.

Do what makes you feel happier, and this is very likely to bring your mood up and you’ll feel happier.

To know everything, what is that to you?

John 21:20-25 NRSVue 

²⁰Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” ²¹When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” ²²Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” ²³So the rumor spread among the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”^,

²⁴This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Each bible has a blank page at the end. This is for each of us to write our own gospel! We can note the incidents, relationships, bad times and good in our lives where Jesus was close, active, saving us, calling us and challenging us into discipleship. Can you note where and when your life with Jesus begin? Like John, we don’t know where it will end. Where is Jesus now writing his gospel in your life so that others will know is love, his call and his identity? Some good pointers for prayer!

Even as John concludes his gospel, he is aware that the words of Jesus may be misunderstood. I pray that I may be preserved from any misinterpretation of Jesus’ words as I take this time in prayer, asking God to speak directly to my heart.John had a sense that the works of Jesus were many, and that numerous books might be written. Before God, I consider the works of Jesus in my life, giving thanks for the hidden and evident ways in which I have come to life. I think of myself as a ‘gospel’, a testament to God’s loving presence and action.

Source: Sacred Space

Do you love me?

¹⁵When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:15-19

Reflection:

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Three times confirming his love and devotion, which balances out the three times he denied Jesus. In a way, this can symbolize confession. Peter tells Jesus he loves Him three times, one “I love you” for each denial of Jesus, which becomes an act of contrition. After each “I love you,” Jesus gives Peter the task of leading His Church. This Gospel shows the power of forgiveness and just how involved God wants us to be in His church even when we make mistakes.

Throughout this scene, Peter is getting distressed because Jesus keeps asking him if he loves Him, to which Peter replies,

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” John 21:17

This response is something to consider. God does know everything. But does that mean we shouldn’t praise and worship Him? Does that mean we shouldn’t go to confession and ask for forgiveness?

This can also apply to our loved ones. You might believe that they know you love them, but how often do you tell them?

We can also apply this to parenthood. Do your kids ever ask you the same question repeatedly? During these moments that test our patience, we can think of Jesus saying,

“Feed my lambs.” John 21:15

We are fulfilling God’s role by taking care of our children, which can sometimes look like answering the same question and practicing patience with them. I, for one, am guilty of getting distressed like Peter at hearing the same question multiple times. This is where we need to choose to love. We “tend [Christ’s] sheep” (John 21:16) when we choose to love others and guide them to God. That is what Jesus was asking of Peter. And it is what He asks of us too.

Ponder:

When is the last time you told God that you loved Him?

Pray:

Thank You for being an all-loving and forgiving Father. Help me to guide my own family closer to You.

Source: Catholic Mom

Dynamic Leadership: Embrace Continuous Growth

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

Leadership is not a static achievement but a dynamic journey. In the fast-paced, ever-evolving world of business and society, resting on past accomplishments is a recipe for obsolescence. As a leadership and motivational expert, I emphasize that continual personal and professional development is crucial. It’s not just about acquiring new skills; it’s about fostering a mindset of perpetual growth and adaptability. Leaders who cease to evolve risk not only their own stagnation but also the vitality of their organizations.

Read curated article in full

Performance management that puts people first

Performance management systems help people continuously develop—but most companies fall short of best practices. A set of defined design choices can help guide leaders forward.

Read the curated article in full

True Unity in Mind and Heart

Jesus is the Standard for Love – John 17:20-26

If we were all suddenly a little younger and had a passion for basketball, for example, we might look to Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, or one of the great female basketball stars in order to see how the game should be played. An aspiring writer might read Shakespeare or Hemmingway in order to see how writing should be done. If we want to know how to love, we look to Jesus who is the standard for love. Our focus on that standard brings us together in unity.

In his book, “the pursuit of God,” AW Tozer said this: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to the standard to which each one must individually must bow. So, one hundred worshipers (meeting) together, each one looking to Christ, are in heart, nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to come in “unity” focused not on God, but on trying to work things out on their own between each other.”

Today we hear the conclusion of Jesus’ prayer at his last meal with the disciples. Jesus prays not only for the disciples, but for those as he says “who will believe in me through their word.” In other words, he prays for us.

The prayer underlines the importance of remaining united to one another in Christ. Only if Christians remain united in Christ, will evangelization be fruitful and enable others to come to believe.

It’s interesting to look at the various commentaries that are available that discuss this Gospel, as it relates to Christ’s plea for unity. Some see it as a call to unify under the mantle of the Catholic Church. Others see it as a kind of charter for the ecumenical movement- bringing together Christians across all denominations.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning”, and that unity “subsists in the Catholic Church”. This vision of unity comes from accepting that Christ is head and that he chose to lead us through Saint Peter and all the popes and bishops who came from his line of ordination. Disunity, in their minds comes from the fraying from the Magisterium and its protection and explanations put forth of the teachings of Christ.
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The ecumenist sees this gospel as mandate for breaking down the divisions which set one group of people against another. They point to St Paul speaking to the Galatians when he says that in Christ there is “no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Both views are valid, but no matter from which lens we view this gospel, the tone of this prayer from the Son to the Father on the night before his death makes it clear that the avenue to get to unity is simply through Christ’s love. As the Father and Jesus love each other, so does Jesus love his disciples, and so must his disciples love each other.

Only if the disciples, and all of us, remain in God’s love, will we be able to see Jesus’ glory, the glory that he has with the Father. And, it would be natural to project forward that this prayer focused on unity driven through love, is one that Jesus makes to this day in intercession for each of us on our behalf.

Jesus prays for us to come together as one. In fact, he sees us as one already. When Jesus looks at Christians, he does not see us as isolated individuals. He recognizes us as persons, certainly, but as persons in community with one another. He does not see us as apart from each other. His vision is that we are one. If Jesus sees us that way, the implication here is that we should see ourselves the same way.

So, let us contemplate today the Father’s love for the Son, and the Son’s love for the Father, and know that the love they have for each of us can neither be taken away or enhanced because it is love at its fullest. And let us use Christ’s words today to remind us of the pleasure that he undoubtedly gets from our efforts to find common ground, to gather, to unite and to express our love for him through each other. The answer to Christ’s prayer… is us… whenever we ourselves humbly love one another.

So, let us pray for more unity in our families, in our parish, in our local community, in our country, and in our world. Let’s extend the prayer that Jesus offers to the Father, that the world may come to know that the Father loves all of us just as he loved his only Son.

Source: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish

More than alive

By Fr. Hugh Barbour, O Praem.

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

-John 17:11b-19

“Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed…” Is heaven up there, someplace? The same Greek verb used for lifting up his eyes is also used for the risen Jesus whole and entire in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where we are told he was “taken up to heaven.” So did Our Lord really travel through the sky to some place above the earth?

This may seem to be an interesting point, but does it concern our deepest spiritual life, our progress in grace, and growth in the hope of glory? The answer is yes; it does in every way.

We human beings, uniquely among the billions of other beings with a spiritual nature, have a body; we are living spirits, as it were, whose immaterial, immortal spirit is also the form, the soul, the life principle of a material substance. For us, being a composition of body and soul, matter and form, is essential to our nature, it is what we are, it is how we exist.

This means that if you touch my hand, you touch me, and if my soul and body are separated, I am no longer there. My mother’s body in her grave is not my mother, and her separated soul beyond is not my mother; she bore me as a person, body and soul. This is the tragedy of our death, which Christ Jesus came to overcome by his death and resurrection. We will be restored to our full being and personhood, body and soul. I have lost my mother, but I will have her back by Christ’s power.

Now, a necessary consequence of having a body is being extended in a place, whether in our mortal body or our immortal one. Location is an automatic result of being corporeal. But what is more, the risen body has qualities that flow into it from the beatified soul, so that it is glorified. Thus, it can move from place to place with the choice of the will and is not restricted by the laws of distance or gravity, which are limitations of our present state. Yet wherever it is, there is a “there” there. Where there are real, extended bodies, there is a place.

Thus it was that Our Lord traveled all over Judea and Galilee by the power of his risen, glorified body. He appeared and disappeared, he offered his hands and side and feet for inspection, he even grilled a fish breakfast and ate and served it.

If an angel were to appear and do these things, it would be a prodigy, an apparition, because pure spirits do not inhabit space and place. But Our Lord in his resurrection did all these things, because like all who saw and touched and spoke to and ate with him, he was present locally in his true body.

So wherever Our Lord’s living, visible, glorious body is, he is present there as in a place. The same is true for any others who have glorified bodies—Our Lady in the first place, but also, if you follow St. John XXIII in his Ascension Day homily of 1962, St. Joseph as well. And after the general resurrection, all the elect will be together in one place in their risen bodies. This is what we believe, whatever progressive theories of the resurrection might claim to the contrary.

Now, this does not mean they are constrained by place, not at all. They can move about freely anywhere they will to go in the new heavens and the new earth that God will provide. All creation will share in this glorious state ever after.

The body will be dominated by the blessedness of the soul. Our Lord’s going up expresses this freedom from the limitations of body and place, but it also reveals that his true body is in heaven, and heaven is wherever his true, glorious, but natural body is.

If the Lord were not in a place in his natural extended body after his ascension, then our teaching on the Blessed Sacrament would make no sense.  For his real presence there means that wherever the sacred species are, they bear a mysterious relationship to his body and blood in heaven, such that wherever they are as a sacrament, he is present in his substance. But his local presence is in heaven. By this sign of the sacrament of sacraments, heaven and earth are joined.

So there is no doubt that the Savior went someplace when he ascended into heaven. This is a place we cannot reach since it is the place of bodies renewed in incorruption and immortality, but he promises to bring us there where he has said, precisely “I go to prepare a place for you.”

Whatever this new kind of place will be in our future experience, we know that it will be more vivid, more concrete, and more self-evident than anything we experience now in our temporary dwelling here below. Did he not also tell us through St. Paul, “Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of any man what God has prepared for those who love him”?

Heaven is most of all essentially the vision of God in our intellect and the perfect possession of him by our will in love, but it will also be even more perfect when we can walk, and talk, and see, and hear, and smell, and embrace those we love amid the marvels of our everlastingly new home on high.

So “lift up your hearts!” He is really there awaiting us, even as he remains with us here under the sacramental signs. Doesn’t that make you love him more, feeding your imagination and your desires with holy hope and anticipated joy?

How to determine if talent or spiritual gift is being used

There are similarities and differences between talents and spiritual gifts. Both are gifts from God. Both grow in effectiveness with use. Both are intended to be used on behalf of others, not for selfish purposes. First Corinthians 12:7 states that spiritual gifts are given to benefit others and not ourselves. As the two great commandments deal with loving God and others, it follows that one should use his talents for those purposes. But to whom and when talents and spiritual gifts are given differs. A person (regardless of his belief in God or in Christ) is given a natural talent as a result of a combination of genetics (some have natural ability in music, art, or mathematics) and surroundings (growing up in a musical family will aid one in developing a talent for music), or because God desired to endow certain individuals with certain talents (for example, Bezalel in Exodus 31:1-6). Spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:3, 6) at the time they place their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. At that moment, the Holy Spirit gives to the new believer the spiritual gift(s) He desires the believer to have (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Romans 12:3-8 lists the spiritual gifts as follows: prophecy, serving others (in a general sense), teaching, exhorting, generosity, leadership, and showing mercy. First Corinthians 12:8-11 lists the gifts as the word of wisdom (ability to communicate spiritual wisdom), the word of knowledge (ability to communicate practical truth), faith (unusual reliance upon God), the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues (ability to speak in a language that one has not studied), and interpretation of tongues. The third list is found in Ephesians 4:10-12, which speaks of God giving to His church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. There is also a question as to how many spiritual gifts there are, as no two lists are the same. It is also possible that the biblical lists are not exhaustive, that there are additional spiritual gifts beyond the ones the Bible mentions.

While one may develop his talents and later direct his profession or hobby along those lines, spiritual gifts were given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of Christ’s church. In that, all Christians are to play an active part in the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. All are called and equipped to be involved in the “work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). All are gifted so that they can contribute to the cause of Christ out of gratitude for all He has done for them. In doing so, they also find fulfillment in life through their labor for Christ. It is the job of the church leaders to help build up the saints so they can be further equipped for the ministry to which God has called them. The intended result of spiritual gifts is that the church as a whole can grow, being strengthened by the combined supply of each member of Christ’s body.

To summarize the differences between spiritual gifts and talents: 1) A talent is the result of genetics and/or training, while a spiritual gift is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit. 2) A talent can be possessed by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, while spiritual gifts are only possessed by Christians. 3) While both talents and spiritual gifts should be used for God’s glory and to minister to others, spiritual gifts are focused on these tasks, while talents can be used entirely for non-spiritual purposes.

Author Anonymous & Unknown

How to determine if talent or spiritual gift is being used

There are similarities and differences between talents and spiritual gifts. Both are gifts from God. Both grow in effectiveness with use. Both are intended to be used on behalf of others, not for selfish purposes. First Corinthians 12:7 states that spiritual gifts are given to benefit others and not ourselves. As the two great commandments deal with loving God and others, it follows that one should use his talents for those purposes. But to whom and when talents and spiritual gifts are given differs. A person (regardless of his belief in God or in Christ) is given a natural talent as a result of a combination of genetics (some have natural ability in music, art, or mathematics) and surroundings (growing up in a musical family will aid one in developing a talent for music), or because God desired to endow certain individuals with certain talents (for example, Bezalel in Exodus 31:1-6). Spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:3, 6) at the time they place their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. At that moment, the Holy Spirit gives to the new believer the spiritual gift(s) He desires the believer to have (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Romans 12:3-8 lists the spiritual gifts as follows: prophecy, serving others (in a general sense), teaching, exhorting, generosity, leadership, and showing mercy. First Corinthians 12:8-11 lists the gifts as the word of wisdom (ability to communicate spiritual wisdom), the word of knowledge (ability to communicate practical truth), faith (unusual reliance upon God), the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues (ability to speak in a language that one has not studied), and interpretation of tongues. The third list is found in Ephesians 4:10-12, which speaks of God giving to His church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. There is also a question as to how many spiritual gifts there are, as no two lists are the same. It is also possible that the biblical lists are not exhaustive, that there are additional spiritual gifts beyond the ones the Bible mentions.

While one may develop his talents and later direct his profession or hobby along those lines, spiritual gifts were given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of Christ’s church. In that, all Christians are to play an active part in the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. All are called and equipped to be involved in the “work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). All are gifted so that they can contribute to the cause of Christ out of gratitude for all He has done for them. In doing so, they also find fulfillment in life through their labor for Christ. It is the job of the church leaders to help build up the saints so they can be further equipped for the ministry to which God has called them. The intended result of spiritual gifts is that the church as a whole can grow, being strengthened by the combined supply of each member of Christ’s body.

To summarize the differences between spiritual gifts and talents: 1) A talent is the result of genetics and/or training, while a spiritual gift is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit. 2) A talent can be possessed by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, while spiritual gifts are only possessed by Christians. 3) While both talents and spiritual gifts should be used for God’s glory and to minister to others, spiritual gifts are focused on these tasks, while talents can be used entirely for non-spiritual purposes.

Author Anonymous & Unknown