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Talents Come from our Family, Gifts Come from the Spirit of God within Us

Updated: Sep 19, 2021


For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.


We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:3‭-‬8) So, what is the difference between a spiritual gift and natural talents in business?

Gifts are Received, Business Talents are Inherited.


President Donald Trump was born into an entrepreneurial family. Generations before him were doing business in farming and real estate. He inherited business talents from his family. You also see this in families that fish, farm, or even do accounting. My accountant is a father, son, and cousins all talented in crunching numbers.

Natural talents are inherited from family and passed along through generations. They are naturally occurring in our genetics.

On the other hand, spiritual gifts come from the Spirit of God within us. This is why it’s called a gift – we received it when we gave our lives to Christ. It was our gift from God to celebrate YOU and the work He’s going to entrust you to go through your business.

Spiritual gifts are given at your spiritual birth, natural gifts come from your natural birth.

Why is this important to know as a Godpreneur business owner? Because knowing yourself and your employees will help you put them in the right seat of your business.

Spiritual Gifts are for the Saved / Talents are for the Saved and Unsaved When you do business in the marketplace, you’ll either do business with saved or unsaved. They will both be talented individuals, and those talents can be of great use in your business. Additionally, if they are saved, then you can also count on some kind of spiritual gift that they can bring to the business. Gifts of the spirit to look out for in employees, vendors and contractors are:

  1. The word of wisdom

  2. The word of knowledge

  3. Faith (extraordinary trust and surrender)

  4. Gifts of healing

  5. The effecting of miracles

  6. Prophecy

  7. The distinguishing of spirits

  8. Tongues

  9. The interpretation of tongues

  10. Service

  11. Teaching

  12. Exhortation

  13. Giving

  14. Leadership

  15. Mercy

  16. Apostleship

  17. Evangelism

  18. Pastoral care

Keep in mind, even non-Christians can have gifts that are on this list of spiritual gifts, like leadership, giving and service. But there’s a major difference in the showing of gifts versus talents. Gifts are a Surprise and Get Sweeter over Time, Talents are Expected, and Get Better over Time

I was a talented leader growing up. I was president of my school and served in many leadership roles. When I became Christian, my leadership multiplied, and my influence and wisdom skyrocketed because God transformed my leadership talent into a spiritual leadership gift. I could have gotten better as a leader without God, but instead of me becoming better God made me wiser and more people wanted to be around me and led by me, and I matured in my relationship with God. I was totally surprised when I saw my leadership abilities exponentially grow!

The bible says:


"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work". (Ephesians 4:14‭-‬16 NIV)