HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 15
page A13
We really don’t know why God hands out talents and abilities the way he does. But the Bible
makes it clear that what God has given to each of us, if used faithfully, will accomplish great
things. God often takes joy in using people the world thinks are lacking in ability or talent to
accomplish his plans.
I am very good at what I do. Is it wrong to feel that way?
• 2 C O R I NT H I A NS 3 :5 | It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own.
Our qualification comes from God.
Rejoice in your God-given abilities, but let that rejoicing be poured out as a thank offering
to the God who gave them. Without God, our abilities are dreams without power, cups
without water, engines without fuel.
I want to be a great musician. Why didn’t God give me the ability to do that?
• R O MA NS 1 2 :6 | God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. (See note on
page 1023.)
Our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is better to be thankful for the gifts we have
and to maximize them rather than to dream of gifts we do not have and to feel that God
shortchanged us.
What if I never get to use my abilities?
PROMISE FROM GOD
• MAT T H E W 2 5 :2 9 | “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given,
and they will have an abundance.”
Abortion
What if you had never been born? How would the world be different? What would never
have happened? If you are a parent, your children would never have been born . . . nor
would their future children and grandchildren. Pregnancies may occur naturally or accidentally . . . or deliberately. Interrupting a pregnancy deliberately is called abortion, and it
ranges from destruction of the fertilized egg to the dismemberment and forced ejection
of a nearly full-term baby. A great controversy rages today concerning abortion, focusing
on whether the unborn baby is truly a person and not just a developing physical body.
Does human life begin at conception, at birth, or at some point between the two?
Who would argue that at birth the baby isn’t fully a human being? But is the unborn child
fully a human being? And are there any justifiable reasons for abortion? Most Christians
would argue against abortion as a means of birth control. Some would argue that abortion is acceptable if it will save the life of the mother, in the case of rape or incest, or if
the unborn child is thought to be brain damaged or deformed. Ultimately the core issue
centers on the sacredness and value of human life because not a single person would
deny that an unborn baby, if left to grow and develop in the womb, would eventually
be born as a human being. Never in history has a human fetus been born as anything
other than a human baby. So the real question is not whether the fetus is human or not,
but what value we should place on human life, because an fetus is indeed destined to
become a human life.
Does the Bible say anything about human qualities in the unborn child?
• PSA L M 5 1 :5 | I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
(See note on page 507.)
HelpFinder
What is keeping you from using your abilities? Is it your own lack of discipline or circumstances beyond your control? If you are truly prevented by circumstances beyond your
control, then take comfort in the fact that God still loves you, and the suffering that is
keeping you from reaching your potential will bring you a great reward in heaven.
A
• H E B R E W S 1 1 :2 6 | [Moses] thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own
the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.