Gifts, Talents, and Abilities -- All for the Glory of God

The Bible tells us that we are "wonderfully and fearfully made." We were uniquely gifted with certain talents to bring honor and glory to the One who created us. I've spent a lot of time over the last few months evaluating and challenging myself to answer those questions that, if we are all being honest, we yearn to know and understand the answer to -- why was I created and what is my purpose?

The Lord has blessed me with spiritual gifts, talents and abilities and it's my job to turn around and use those to honor Him. We are commanded to "love the Lord, our God, with ALL of our heart, soul, and mind" and "love others as ourself." This can manifest itself in several different ways for different people. For me, it's running, it's coaching Little League baseball, it's taking a week of vacation to go to YoungLife camp, it's calling my family or friends just to listen when they are hurting, or it's doing my job as effectively as possible. These are opportunities for me to worship the God who created me and "knit me together in my mother's womb."

Leading up to the Beijing Olympics this summer, I've been following some American distance runners and their quest to realize their Olympic dreams. In particular, I've been following Ryan Hall through his blog and other news coverage. I ran across this article -- "Free to Run" -- and interview on Sharing the Victory.com today. In the article and interview, Ryan Hall talks about the Lord's calling on his life and why he runs.



You may not be a runner, but I'm certain there you have a certain activity or hobby that you are gifted or talented in. So, why do you "run"? What's your purpose? What unique gifts do you possess that you could use to honor and glorify the Lord?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1