Easy Way Out

So, you figured out that you are really good at something. Good enough that other people notice it. Other people you respect and trust as well as complete strangers. You are good enough at it that it makes you feel accomplished and important. It makes you feel good about yourself. You start thinking you have been given a special gift. It is who you are -- good at this particular thing. It validates you. After a while of being good at something, you realize that you like people's praises too much, that you have let your talent define you a little too much, that you have become proud and selfish. You find yourself doing something really well but for the wrong reason. You may be a great parent but only because you want to be better than other parents. You may be an excellent teacher but only because you love to see yourself toy with people's emotions and show how inadequate their beliefs really are. You may be a great writer but only because you want to hear others tell you that. So, what do you do next? There is a common but easy way out. You quit. You say, "I don't want to do this for my own glory, so I will give it up altogether." You make this big sacrifice for God, so that He gets the glory. Except that He does not get any glory if you quit. The hard thing to do, which I also think is the right thing, is to keep using this gift of yours, do something really well (well enough for others to notice and make you feel really good about yourself), and yet do it for the right reason. Use your gift humbly. Pursue your talent, work on it and become great. Realize God's dreams about you. But do it for Him and don't take any glory for yourself. Oh, it is hard. But so are most worthwhile things in life.