In Jeremiah 1; 5 God says, I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb, which means he is entirely responsible for all the input in our lives, including the gifts we have, and the talents we boast of. On a divine principle, everything we are or have, are meant for a special pourpose, which is between us and our creator, this purpose is not to glorify ourselves, but God, who knew us before we were. However some people, far from elating God’s glory through their magnificent talents, have employed them to overshadow it. What manifests God’s great love, compassion and forgiveness to us, is the fact regardless of our increased inequities and mischievousness to his name and to other people, fueled by the presence of our talents, he does not withdraw them from us. There are many people, who have lived different stories, in the hands of their talents. Some have accomplished more than enough, from their talents, like wealth, fame, and friends and to many, talents have been their destinies, or defined their destinies in one way or another. Many other people in various capacities, have grossly benefited from their talents, others have built massive empires of wealth, out of their various gifts, to the extent of conquering international fame and acclaim. However, there is a painful reality of immensely talented people, whose talents have turned out to be a source of cancers that eat them up. Satan is on the lookout for people God has given magnificent talents and gifts, so that he hijacks them into serving his wicked schemes. Satan does not give talents, because ‘he can’t even straighten a single hair on a person’s head’, but he opportunistically arrests people, with God given gifts and talents, and uses them to his works. A vivid example, of a person’s talent that the devil arrested was a great rock and roll musician, Elvis Presley. In his life he accomplished all levels of fame, got the money, limelights of all kinds, and all that the world could offer. But as mark 8; 36 says, that ‘‘what does man benefit if he gains the whole world but loses his soul’’, Elvis Presley lost it, because he didn’t get a chance of glorifying the one who gave him the breath, leave alone the talent, instead he was worshipped because of the talent, making his talent a threat to his relationship with his creator. We ought to be wise when dealing with our talents, and their fruits, such that we don’t miss the greatest gift of salvation and eternal life, because of the worldly gifts. We need to use the worldly gifts wisely, so as to attain the ultimate gift. Apart from the spiritual impacts of misusing our talents, there are cases, where people with impeccable talents, have single-handedly eaten them up. The exposure that comes with a blossoming talent has opened many icons of different fraternities, to untold dangers and temptations, which have turned out to be grossly devastating to their lives. One of the many significant baits, that has proved so difficult to surpass by many young talented personalities, is alcoholism. This has been normally intertwined with womanizing, by many male icons, partly because one leads to the other. Alcoholism, being the mother of many evils and dangers, for instance womanizing that exposes people to incurable diseases, conflicts, reckless driving, and many other pathetic situations, has had a huge share in ruining many gifted and talented personalities. One of the greatest footballer that ever lived, George Best, who was a phenomenal Manchester united player one time, serves a good example, in this context. He plundered his life and career in alcoholism. When responding to claims of his absence during matches and training sessions, he infamously remarked that ‘I really went missing, miss Ireland, miss Austria, miss Canada’, he said that because, during his absence he was creeping with one of the miss worlds. One curious journalist once asked, George we have heard that you have had sex with six miss worlds, is it true? He said no, they are five, for one I dint show up! His end was very pathetic; he squandered all his money on alcohol, smoking and women. He succumbed to cancer, due to relentless smoking and alcohol. Another plaque that has proved to attack, people who have attained lofty positions, as a result of their flawless talents, is pride which in the long run breads arrogance. This has put young stars in very dire positions, where Satan finds them very vulnerable, hence duping them into his dreadful acts. The common saying that pride is the only disease that does not affect the sufferer, but people around him or her, seems to be a terrible oversight. Because the proud, with their egoistic tendencies, miss out on the social disclosures, this breads emptiness inside them, and blocks them from some opportunities though they of course inhibit it. In proverbs 8; 13, God declares his irrevocable hatred for pride and arrogance, and the bible continues to manifest how pride follows destruction. Ends
