God has given each of us incredible gifts. Whether you can paint, cook, sing, dance, preach, build... Whatever it is, having gifts is a great thing when we can use them to bring glory to God. Sometimes in the midst of trying to do so, we get caught up. We begin to be known for our gifts. We start to find our confidence in what we can do rather than who gave us the ability to do so. We begin to worship the creation when we should be worshipping the Creator. This is a dangerous spot I've found myself in many times.

In 10,000 years it isn't going to matter what our gifts were. What's going to matter is how we used them. Are we using our skills and gifts to build God's kingdom or our own kingdom? God deserves all of the glory. We do not. Without Him our lives would be meaningless, so let us use out gifts to bring glory and praise to Him alone. Psalm 115:1 says, "Not to us, oh Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory because of Your unfailing love and faithfulness."

We get so caught up in how we look, talk, and in the things that we do. Even the greatest things we do are insignificant when they are not done in love! Let us step out of our worldly perspectives and into God's. We get tricked into finding our confidence in ourselves and the things we do or don't do, but once we find our identity in Christ we find true confidence. Christ is the only One who will never fade away. Earthly things will surely pass but God never will. Why do we waste our time trying to find ourselves in things that can be taken away at any moment? When we do that we are setting ourselves up for a let-down. Find your identity in Christ. He died for us, so why are we living for ourselves?

Check your motives. Check your heart. Whos kingdom are you building anyway?