I recently attended a worship session at our church last week and the ladies leading the sessions had amazing voices! The ones that just make you love a song you have never heard of, the kind of voices that make you think you have an amazing voice when you join in to sing with them. It was amazing and it reminded me of a time I desired to have such kind of talent/gift. For me, I think I would probably get shot if someone pointed a gun at me and dared me to sing to save my life...it would go something like....me: Halleluja.......boom! shot....dead....I wouldn't even get past the common phrase..'listen to the words and not the voice'...its so bad that when a friend dared me on social media to record a video of myself singing the song amazing grace, I was planning to do it in sign language just to save my reputation.
I think now you have a clear picture of how much I suck at singing, but I am told to make 'joyful' noises to God so I keep singing when I can. Thing is, growing up I always thought the people around me were better, better at sports, better at school work (even if I performed well), better at even making noise! I never felt enough and I would try copy the actions of the people I admired most....take for example my brother, he was the coolest person on earth in my eyes such that when he got circumcised and he had to spend a whole week in a 'leso' and change his walking style, in my innocence I wrapped myself in a 'leso' and would imitate his walk in the house just because I wanted to be like him....(sorry for that picture, stay with me here)
Back to the singing, so I desired to be able to sing like the people I saw sing in church as I grew up and even in high school. I thought it was the coolest thing on earth and the best way for me to serve God. Fast forward, after High school, I started writing Facebook notes and people would love them and I could never explain where the words came from up until God placed it in my heart to start a blog after I got saved and the writing comes natural to me. It is so easy for me that now I do case studies at work now without breaking a sweat!.
What am I getting at?
When God created you and I, He placed certain talents/gifts in us that come naturally, we are not taught, and even when taught it is so easy for us to learn. He places them in us for a purpose, the purpose? to use them for His glory and serve Him, to use them to reach out to others for them to know about Christ, for us to encourage them, for us to build them up.
The problem
A lot of people in the body of Christ are caught up in the comparison game where one feels like the talent given to another is better or the person with a certain talent may feel like they are better than the others. God's plan for His people is to work together and complement one another, every gift given by God is aimed at serving others in the body of Christ, but the devil's plan is to destroy this union amongst believers and we fall right into his trap when we start to compare ourselves to others and this often leads to two things; pride or jealousy.
Angela* the usher
Angela serves as an usher in church and she enjoys it, well kinda. When she sees Sheila on stage leading worship, she finds herself always thinking to herself how Sheila thinks she is so awesome because she can sing and she rarely gets anything out of the session as her focus is always on analyzing Sheila's singing
Jason* the dancer
Jason is great at dancing and this has earned him the coveted slot of performing during the offertory session. He gets a lot of praises from people and this has made him start thinking that no one else deserves that slot and often objects when other people/the choir want the slot.
For Angela, she loses out on gaining from the worship session because she has allowed jealousy to creep in and in a way she finds herself disliking Sheila only because she has formed the idea in her mind that Sheila must think she is better than others because she has a great voice.
For Jason, he has let pride creep in his heart and now thinks that no one else can be as good as him or can out perform him and this shows his focus has shifted from glorifying God to himself.
Solution
We are told in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 that just like the different body parts have different functions, one cannot do without the other because when one body part fails the rest fail and if one is okay the rest are okay. The same as us in the body of Christ, if one of us is honored all of us are honored and if one of us suffers, all of us suffer.
1. If you find yourself growing jealous of someone because of the gift God has given them, repent and ask for forgiveness, then start praying for this particular person that God may continue to use them, believe me that the feeling will slowly fade away.
2. If you find yourself starting to think you are better than others because of the talent God has given you, repent and ask for God to forgive you and pray that you will stop seeing yourself better than others.
3. If you have not yet discovered your gift or talent, pray for God to reveal it to you and help you develop it and use it for His glory.
For me, I discovered what I am good at and my focus shifted from desiring to be like the singers but to be a better writer. It does not mean that at times I will not think of it, but now because I know what God has placed in me, I no longer desire to be who He has not created me to be, I can simply be me and be content. I pray for the same for you, that you will get to a place of contentment and you will be able to pray for your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to do better as you do better.
