Discover and Develop – Part IV

Last updated on: July 29, 2016 at 9:07 am by Adrian Crawford

Discover and Develop – Part IV 2016-07-29T09:07:21-04:00 Adrian Crawford

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DandD As you may know, I own a basketball skill training academy where I help identify and develop skills in basketball players. One young man I began working with wasn’t the prototypical basketball player. At first I tried to put him in the “pass first” mold, but he broke it every time. Through his playing, he showed me that he had been categorized by his size and color, rather than by his skill set. Most white guys his height are boxed in as pass first point guards, but he had something in him that wouldn’t fit in that space. In fact, once he was freed from those restraints, the very first thing I noticed about him was that he had a high motor and striking ability to score. He had a gift to play harder than the other guys on the court. He didn’t get tired and once this was evident to me, I completely changed how I worked with him.

Through developing his gifts, his knack to score the ball emerged. Our development began to focus on training him to be the most effect scorer he could possibly be. This boy had a dream to play division 1 collegiate basketball and a lot of people said he could not. Instead of listening, we trained harder. We worked together to grow his natural abilities to unusual levels and his gifts attracted what he wanted.

I recently heard from one of my friends, my former barber actually, he showed up at my house and he made a statement to me that God never tells us to find our purpose, but He does instruct us to develop our gifts. Like the man I spoke about in the last blog who left a full time position of ministry to work with his hands, the same is true for this young man. To realize what gifts you have been given and work on developing those to the glory of God is greater than searching for a purpose. The Bible clearly outlines the purpose of man in Genesis. I 100% believe that we were created to do meaningful work in the earth.

If you develop your gift, you can be so much more useful to others around you, your family, your community, and to the kingdom of God. Opportunities will come for a person skilled in their craft. Proverbs 22:29 tell us “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.” Churches, businesses, and families should not strive to be so broad, but discover what gifts they have been given, commit to them, and develop them.

One of the historical figures in the Bible who can easily be overlooked is Bezalel. His story is pretty much summed up in Exodus 31:1-6. He is an artist, a highly skilled craftsman. The Lord created him and endowed him with a specific skill set. Verses 4-5: “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.” There is no talent that God has not Himself given for a purpose.

We will be most effective as individuals, most effective as families, most effective as churches and communities when we stop just trying to fit this imaginary mold and start looking at what God has given us to work with and develop those talents.

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