Having a skill or talent and being developed are two things that are more interdependent than we realize. Whether your a writer like myself, a music artist, play sports, a speaker, etc., your giftedness will never replace your need to develop that gift and your character along with it. The development process involves your self-dedication to your craft, but there’s no development of your gifts that doesn’t involve others along your journey.

The world is designed around our need for community, which itself is a nod to God’s nature, as He created it. For there is no amount of giftedness that would lead you to live life completely on your own. Virtually all of our gifts have an intrinsically communal element contained in it, to the point that using them for yourself will never make you feel complete.

Sure you can make something of yourself in this world to some extent by yourself, selfishness is rewarded in a sin-cursed world, but you won’t be fulfilled or fully developed in any sense. The sad part about succeeding in selfishness is everyone gets to see the lack that you’re so proud of.

The sad part about succeeding in selfishness is everyone gets to see the lack that you’re so proud of.

In short, it is made for you to humble yourself so that you can develop your gift. I mentioned character earlier, but I want to focus on developing your gift itself to show that even without character development, we have a built-in mechanism for pursuing humility. This applies to everyone, and you may be in a field where that isn’t emphasized or the channels for development aren’t well-known, but that still doesn’t remove it’s necessity.

As a writer, I myself have suffered because I haven’t sought out areas where I can be better trained in what I write and how I write. For years I’ve published over 150 posts on this platform alone, and while I have grown through the writing, editing, and publishing process, I haven’t sought coaching in this area. I still need it.

It is tempting for us to think that our giftedness is sufficient because it actually gets us places, but in reality, the most stable individuals are the ones that have pursued development of their gifts along with character development. From the parables of Christ, to nature, to our own experiences, we can see the value of deepening our roots so that we can grow and endure.

We can see the value of humbly seeking out growth in our gifts, and when we do, that is when we will see the blessing that comes out of it. We will see our longevity, our flourishing through the shifts and changes that life brings, the maturation of our gifts beyond our youth, and so much more. Don’t fight the way God designed this to go. He doesn’t give us gifts without the built-in need for growth, which won’t happen only on your own. The journey you choose to take with your gifts is yours to make.