Talent...

I've been reading a little book called Stand Against the Wind by Erwin McManus which seems to be mostly art-enhanced extracted thoughts from his book Uprising (great for gift-type book). This quote stood out to me the other day and has kind of been floating around my head...

Talent without character is a dangerous thing. Talent fueled by character is a gift from God.

In helping students discover and become what God is calling them to, I'm often pointing to talents they already have that could be developed for use in the kingdom. This was a good reminder to pay attention to character development as well. Without character, it's so easy to get sucked into a 'look-what-I-can-do' mentality. The world doen't need more talented people - it needs men and women who have taken on the character of Christ. I wonder how many have been taken down by the very talents that could have been of great use to the Kingdom? I pray I'll have the character to recognize the gift and use it wisely.