By Matt Nuth

1 Corinthians 4:7 “Who says you are better than others? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why do you brag as if you did not receive it as a gift?”

Humility rarely comes naturally to us; I know it has not for me. Far too often I fail to acknowledge that I am not nearly as good as I think I am… or as I want to be. To be truthful, it is too easy to be envious of those that appear more talented and there is nothing good that comes from this jealousy. It is like a cancer, something that is almost impossible to stop, feeding upon itself and growing, all the while damaging our spirit and our willingness to accept the gifts of talent given to others. It is tough to humble oneself and acknowledge when others also have received substantive talents… or appear to have made more of their talent.

It is imperative we do not waste the talents given each of us. Scripture stresses the importance of sharing the gifts. Last night I had the opportunity to experience an example in which an individual had not only accepted his gifts, but he worked diligently to develop them; he complemented God-given talent with hard work to make his sharing truly an amazing gift to us all. The Poway Symphony performed with their principal cellist as the soloist. The name of the piece or the musician are not important, but the pertinence to this passage in Corinthians is. The cellist was certainly blessed with gift of musical talent, but he remained humble, seemingly embarrassed by the applause and praises he received. Having gotten to know the individual over the past several months, I have no doubt his humility is genuine; he recognizes his talent for what it is: a gift.

As a novice cellist, it would have been easy to envy his talent and skills… and, initially, I found myself falling into that trap, until I remembered how the Bible reminds us to be grateful for the many gifts provided by God. We have all received gifts from God. None of us earned these gifts and they are not to be envied. Instead, we should continuously thank God for them and not waste them.

Last night, moving away from envy allowed me to truly enjoy the fruits of a musical gift received and developed by another. Instead of jealously, another’s talent and skill became a source of joy and inspiration. Let each of us use the talents we have received for the glory of God.