2. An unused talent
An unused talent will cause you to lose your passion for life and your passion for God. 1 Peter 4:10 says “Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gifts well.” Notice God gives you certain talents, abilities, personality, gifts — the shape that He’s given you — and those gifts, those talents that you’ve been given are not for your benefit. They’re for the benefit of other people. My gifts are for your benefit. Your gifts are for my benefit. You are to use those gifts in the service of other people. God has given you a special role in this world. He wants you to make a contribution with your life. God says, I have given you these gifts and talents.
If you don’t use your talents you’re going to lose your passion. God did not give you special abilities just to sit on them and do nothing about it. God says I want you to use it or you’re going to lose it.
Let me get real specific. If you are stuck in a job that does not use your talents to any degree you are inevitably going to lose your zeal and zest and passion in life. It’s going to burn you out. Studies have shown that 70% of all Americans are in a job that does not use their talents. That’s tragic. That makes God sad. Because God did not give you talents and then say, “Don’t use them. Just go make some money.” There’s something more important than money. That is using what God gave you. God is grieved when He looks and sees you in a job that’s not using your talents. He’s going, “What do you think I gave you your talents for? Just to sit on them?” No. If you do that you’re going to lose your passion.
If you’re in a job right now that uses only 30% of your talent that’s going to give you what I call a 70% boredom factor. Does that make sense? You’re bored by your job because it’s not using the talents that God put in you. A lot of guys are stuck in a job they hate, that aren’t using their talents. They lose their zest for life. Why? They aren’t using the talents God gave them.
1 Corinthians 7 “Each one should live his life with the gifts that the Lord has given him.” God gave you gifts and abilities and talents to use.
The reality is you’re never going to find a job that uses 100% of your talent. You’re never going to find a job that is 100% fulfilling. Why? Because God never meant for you to find 100% fulfillment through your job. Your life is more than your job. He wants you to have a ministry. That’s why you need a ministry in your church to use the talents you’re not using in your job. Because no job could possibly use all the talents God has given you. So you need a job but you also need a ministry that expresses what you’re good at. That’s why we here at Saddleback encourage everybody to find a ministry.
Let me say this as your pastor because I care about you. If you are in a job right now that is killing your passions, get out! Get out! This is America, folks. Nobody’s holding a gun to your head. In a lot of countries you don’t have a choice on where you work. But you do in America. And it is not good stewardship and it is not wise use of your time and life to be in a job that doesn’t use the talents that God gave you. It’s no wonder you lose your passion and zest.
You probably can’t do it over night — can’t go out tomorrow and quit. But you could start planning for the transition. You start making preparation. Part of your church family’s role is to help you find your niche in life. Many of you may not know that we have a lot of different tools here at Saddleback to help you discover, develop and deploy your talents.
