00:00:00 Welcome Thio Episode 5 29 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast This is Wendy Gentry from Baker University. I encourage you to live your life from the inside out in one way to be inspired. To do that is to listen to this the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott made her. You don't have a single thing like this. And on the side either is a volunteer is a side business. You go out and begin to do the thing that you're really passionate about, that you're called to do. That lies within your special gifting,
00:00:43 and you do that to serve others. And whether or not you get paid just becomes part of figuring out what you want to do with your business. It isn't welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast who learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
00:01:24 In today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why different doesn't mean bad, how you can work and let it be for the Lord. If it does no harm and what this can mean for us. As Christians, you've heard me talk about developing your talent, and one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today,
00:01:50 it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
00:01:57 Go to inspired stewardship dot com slash audible to sign up, and you can get a 30 day free trial.
00:02:04 There's over 100 and 80,000 titles to choose from, and you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible.
00:02:15 That's inspired stewardship dot com slash audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast.
00:02:25 First Corinthians Chapter 12 versus five through six says there are different kinds of service, but the same lord.
00:02:33 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.
00:02:41 You know. Here's what's interesting to me about this passage. I've had several conversations in the last week or so with folks where they've come to me.
00:02:51 And part of what we've been talking about is what are their gift ings. What is it that they're being called to do?
00:02:57 What are the things that they are able to do that is uniquely powerful and something that they are made to do?
00:03:05 And often as I talk to about it, a couple of things happen. One is first off, and we've talked about this before on the podcast were really bad at seeing the things that we're good at and recognizing that their gift ings.
00:03:20 This is why asking some people from outside is such a good technique. But the second part and and why I want to talk a little bit about this today is we often look at our gift ings and then compare ourselves toe others gift ings.
00:03:37 And because they're different, we immediately devalue our own. We look to things being different and immediately assume that means somehow they're worse.
00:03:49 They're not as good, they're not as strong. I don't have the gift ings that you do and I wish that I did.
00:03:56 We fall into the comparison trap of looking at the work that we do, looking at the things that we're good at and just recognizing that what we have is different than others.
00:04:09 But we turn that difference into a value judgment where we stern that difference into saying different means lesser, different means bad and the truth is,
00:04:22 go back to the passage. There are different kinds of service, but the same lord. There are different kinds of working,
00:04:30 but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work. And I think it's interesting that in the first part it talks about service.
00:04:39 In the second, it talks about working because the truth is that the work that we do can be serving others,
00:04:49 or the work that we can do can be serving no one but ourselves, serving to make ourselves into something above other serving,
00:04:58 to make ourselves into better or above or the hierarchy. It's about competition and holding everyone else down are is your work focused on building others up?
00:05:11 If you're truly doing work that is service oriented and if it does, no harm. It doesn't hurt.
00:05:17 Others are tear them down or or pull them back down. Then that work can be given over to the Lord is a form of worship.
00:05:27 The truth is, by the way, working to serve others can be in almost any job. See,
00:05:36 the funny thing is, I think a lot of times, if you're if you're a line worker and you work for a major company and you said a cubicle all day and you just kind of produce data or do certain information are you process financial records,
00:05:51 And that's all you do all day long. That work is still in service toe others. There's still a larger impact of that work,
00:06:01 and identifying it getting tuned into it is often what gives us purpose. It gives us a feeling of worth in our work is one of the things I don't like about a lot of major corporations.
00:06:13 They don't do a good job of letting people know how the piece that they're doing fits into the larger hole and what the mission and the purpose is.
00:06:24 And because of that over time, a lot of times companies began to slip into one purpose and one purpose only to make money,
00:06:31 and that ends up being the result of serving others, not the reason to do the business. But if we turn that around and we start making the chasing of money to be what we're after,
00:06:44 instead of the result of what we're after, then we've begun to lose that spirit of serving, and that's what gets us all twisted up.
00:06:53 So how do you serve others? And what are your gift? Ings? Make lists, Think about it,
00:06:59 pray about it, talk to others about it, asked that question of yourself and ask that question of the people closest to you.
00:07:07 And then when you begin to identify those things than as a Christian, you're called to use those gift ings.
00:07:15 You're called to go out into the world and do those things so that you can help other people. You can serve other people.
00:07:22 You can lift other people up. That's what we're supposed to do. That's part of our job of spreading The gospel is living it by doing it.
00:07:33 And the funny thing is, as you begin to do that, you will become connected to that work.
00:07:41 It will begin to fill you up and give you purpose. And by the way, notice in here.
00:07:45 Never did I talk about the work that you're getting paid for. You could work a career where you don't have a single thing like this.
00:07:53 And on the side either is a volunteer is a side business. You go out and begin to do the thing that you're really passionate about,
00:08:00 that you're called to do. That lies within your special gifting. And you do that to serve others.
00:08:06 And whether or not you get paid just becomes part of figuring out what you want to do with your business.
00:08:13 It isn't the be all end all it becomes the results, not what you're chasing. This lets you keep money in the right place.
00:08:25 This allows you to keep your own pride in the right place because it allows you to put others first and put God first and only look to yourself last.
00:08:35 And as you do that strangely, what ends up happening is you get more of what you want, Zig Ziglar said.
00:08:42 If you help enough people get what they want, then you're certainly going to get what you want. and this is a version of that.
00:08:51 So remember, as you look to your own gift ings that different doesn't mean bad and that the work you do has purpose and your job is to find it and connect to that and then do it to the best of your ability to build up the kingdom.
00:09:09 Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener,
00:09:20 we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe.
00:09:29 Live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship dot com slash talent and sign up for our five weeks Siris on the stewardship of talent or if you're in the U.
00:09:46 S. You can text 44222 Talent tips. That's talent tips tau 442 to 2 and get those tips until next time.
00:09:59 Investor time, your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world way