We are all blessed with talents. Through three divine steps, we can develop our talents and use them to benefit the kingdom of God.
All of us are blessed with unique abilities. Based on the Savior’s parables, we know we should develop our talents, but we don’t always know how. Thankfully, through Elder Franklin D. Richards’s BYU devotional “Our Talents—A Choice Gift from God,” we can find guidance and purpose to develop our talents.
The first step in developing talents, according to Richards, is to “recognize our talents and [decide] to pay the price necessary to develop them.” Though recognizing our gifts can be difficult, our abilities will be revealed to us through sincere prayer and revelation from God.
Second, we should use our talents often, for “talents are developed by use, and they will not grow and multiply unless they are used.” The Spirit will also guide us toward opportunities to use our gifts if we pray for those opportunities.
Photo by Nick Collins
Third, we should use our gifts to help build the kingdom of God. As we do so, we may face discouragement and opposition as the adversary tries to stop this great work. Do not fear. Through this opposition, we will grow and develop in ways that will bring us closer to eternal life.
At the end of this worthy and great process of developing our talents, we will receive our greatest reward. What a joy it will be to hear Christ say the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 23:23).
Read all of Elder Franklin D. Richards’s remarks in “Our Talents—A Choice Gift from God.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Kelly Pratt, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY ANDREA PIACQUAIDIO
Find more insights
To find more insights, watch the Savior’s address on developing our talents in “Parables of Jesus: The Parables of the Talents.”
Learn how to develop your spiritual gifts in “What Is Your Spiritual Superpower?” by Ellie Castillo.