The Purposes of God's Gifts

Tonight, my D&D character was given an opportunity to trade away a gift given to him by a goddess, and he did. Normally, this is something that he would never do. When he received the gift, he planned to keep it for the rest of his life as a sort of memento, to remind him of all the things this particular goddess had done for him. However, when the opportunity arose, my character consulted with the local priestess of this goddess. He asked her whether this might have been the reason he was given the gift in the first place, and the answer he got suggested that it probably was. So, seemingly with the goddess's blessing, my character traded away the gift she had given him.

God has given us many gifts, and the question of how we use them is a very important one. We might want to share this gift with as many people as possible, or we might want to keep it private and sacred. We may even, under some circumstances, use our gifts for our personal gain. After all, if God granted a person a gift for painting, God would probably want that person to paint, but what happened with the paintings after they're painted may be up to the painter's discretion. Should the painter put the paintings on display for all the world to see, or should they be kept for private audiences? Would the painter be justified in selling the paintings or prints of them? I think so. God gave the painter the gift of painting for a reason, perhaps multiple reasons, and giving the painter a way to make a living might have been one of those reasons.

To understand how we ought to use the gifts God has given us, we should consult the One who gave them to us. God knows how He wants us to use His gifts. Often, He gives us gifts to use for the betterment of mankind. Sometimes, the gifts are meant to be more personal and private. I suppose that, sometimes, God gives us gifts to use for our own benefit as well as for the benefit of others, and if the benefit to use happens to be financial as well as spiritual, perhaps that's what God intended. To know for certain what God would have us do with our gifts, it would be wise to ask. It could be that God intends us to use His gifts in exactly the way we think we ought to use them, or it could be that He had something else in mind. The only way to know how God wants you to use the gifts God has given you is to ask Him. Just try to be ready to accept whatever answer He gives you, even if it's not what you might have expected.