The dark side of gifts

SUMMARY: God's gifts can become a source of failure if we neglect ourselves. God often humbles us proactively to prevent our gifts from leading to pride, self-reliance, or intolerance toward the weak. In the case of the Apostle Paul, God gave him extraordinary gifts but also sent him a persistent spiritual affliction to keep him humble and dependent on God's grace. This was a preventive intervention to prevent the dark side of Paul's gift from manifesting and becoming a stumbling block to his life and ministry. We should ask God to prune our gifts so that they can continue to grow healthily for His glory and our blessing.

Every gift has a sinister side. Any endowment from God, if we neglect ourselves, can become the foundation of a terrible fall or a great humiliation. In his severe mercy, God often humbles us and treats us proactively, so that our gifts do not become a source of failure for us.

An interesting illustration of this principle is provided by the life of the Apostle Paul. We have already seen in another context how Paul's famous thorn was part of that mechanism by which God uses negative circumstances in our lives to sanctify us and make us more like Christ. This same phenomenon can also be analyzed in the light of the subject we are dealing with. At times, the afflictions and failures of life can be used by God to balance and counterbalance the distortions that gifts create in the personality and character of the believer. The gifts and triumphs of ministry can lead to pride, self-reliance, or intolerance toward the weak. The goads that God allows in our lives can serve as an antidote and guide us toward humility, mercy, and continued dependence on God.