James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
But why does God choose to give us gifts?
I asked myself that question earlier this week while reading through 1 Corinthians 12. In that chapter, the Apostle Paul writes about the gifts of the Spirit—the talents and abilities God gives us to carry out His work. To describe this, Paul uses a metaphor of the human body. He says that the body has many parts—hands, feet, eyes, ears—and each body part has its own role. None can say to another, “I don’t need you.” Every part matters.
And that got me thinking about our gifts.
Why would God distribute a multitude of gifts? Why design us all so differently—some more like hands, others like eyes, some like feet?
The more I sat with that question, the more I realized something quite profound: our gifts were never meant for us.
A Whisper on the Highway
A few years ago, I was driving down the highway and praying to God. As I prayed, I found myself asking Him for things that I wanted. God, would you give me this? God, would you give me that?
Then, somewhere in the back of my mind, I received the faintest impression that said:
“You receive not because you ask for the wrong reasons.”
It startled me. I didn’t know exactly where I’d heard those words before, but I knew they were somewhere in the Bible. Later, I found them in the book of James:
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3, ESV)
That verse revealed something in me. I had been praying with selfish motives. I wanted God’s blessings—God’s gifts—but merely for my own comfort, and not for His glory.
That’s not why God gives us gifts. Yes, He is a loving Father. Yes, He certainly delights in blessing His children. But when it comes to the big gifts—our talents, our passions, our callings, and so on—those are meant for something far greater.
God gives us our gifts to serve others.
Gifts that Glorify
If we have the ability to sing, to teach, to write, or to lead—these are all divine fingerprints on our souls. Sure, we can refine these gifts through diligent practice, but we did not create them in the first place. We did not choose for those talents to be there.
If someone can dunk a basketball, that’s not something that happened by random chance. God chose to make that person six-foot-six! Likewise, if someone can sing like an angel, they might have trained that voice for years—but their vocal cords were handcrafted by God.
Every gift, big or small, reflects God’s mission at work. Our talents are not meant to glorify ourselves—they’re meant to fulfill His purposes.
When we use our gifts for God’s glory, the world catches a glimpse of the Giver.
The Humbling of the Body
But there’s another side to gifts that cannot go unnoticed.
In the same passage, Paul reminds us that no one has every gift. Not you. Not me. Not anyone. And that’s intentional.
I think about this often when I’m creating videos or podcasts. I have some personal gifting in the written word, but when it comes to editing, designing, or building websites, I’m lost! That is not my lane, and those are not my gifts.
So what does that mean? It means I need others—desperately and obviously.
In a sense, it is actually our lack of gifts that serves to humble us. It forces us to depend on the body of Christ—the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears—and recognize that we are parts of a whole. God made it that way on purpose, so that His people would rely on one another. This teaches us to find “oneness” in the way God exemplifies.
A Gift Meant to Serve
So then, why does God give us gifts?
- To serve others.
- To glorify Him.
- To keep us humble and connected.
Each of us has good works prepared in advance for us. That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 2:10. Our gifts are the tools we need to walk in those works.
As you move forward today, take a moment to reflect on your gifts and talents. Think about the prayers you’ve been praying these days. Are they aligned with God’s purposes, or are they focused on your own passions?
Ask God to help you see the good works He’s already written into your story. Ask Him to help you use your gifts not for your glory, but for His.
At the end of the day, the Giver of good gifts has one goal in mind: that His children would love and serve Him.
Blessings,
