Part 2 - Walking in a Gift Doesn’t Automatically Mean Alignment With God

Go back to Part 1 to get the full gist, because in Part 2, we’re going deeper. We’re going to look at one of the most famous people in the Bible and let his life show us this truth: having a gift does not automatically mean you’re in alignment with God—or that you have a genuine relationship with Him.

Solomon: The Wisest Man Making Foolish Decisions

Solomon’s story really bothers me when I think deeply about it. God gave this man a gift, wisdom like nobody else. People traveled from nations just to hear him speak.

Imagine that. Your gift becomes internationally known. People leave your presence saying: “Wow. God really gave this man wisdom.” And they weren’t wrong. God really did. But here’s the scary part: Solomon’s wisdom did not automatically make Solomon obedient. Long before Solomon became king, God gave Israel instructions concerning kings. Deuteronomy 17:16–17 says a king was not to:

• multiply horses,

• multiply wives,

• or greatly multiply silver and gold.

Now read Solomon’s story. Horses? Multiplied. Gold? Multiplied.

Wives? Lord have mercy. Multiplied.

And then 1 Kings 11 tells us Solomon loved many foreign women from nations concerning which God had warned Israel.

And eventually: his wives turned his heart after other gods. Do you see the irony?

The wisest man in the world knew enough to advise everybody else but still disobeyed God himself. That is terrifying.

Because your gift can make you excellent at helping other people while your own life is quietly falling apart.

• You can give somebody a prophetic word you desperately need to obey yourself.

• You can teach Scripture and stop living it.

A gift does not force you to obey. Solomon still had to choose obedience. And he didn’t.

Maybe Solomon Started Trusting His Wisdom Too Much

This is my personal reflection when I read the story of Solomon. I sometimes wonder whether being the wisest man became part of his problem. Did his gift of wisdom become his problem ?

• When everybody constantly comes to you for answers…

• When everyone keeps confirming how wise you are…

At what point do you stop asking God because you assume you already know?

The Bible doesn’t explicitly say, “Solomon trusted his wisdom more than God,” so I won’t present that as Scripture. But his life certainly warns us about that possibility.

Never become so gifted that you stop checking with God if you’re aligned with him.

Because Solomon’s gift did not exempt him from God’s Word. And neither does yours.

And After Everything, Listen to Solomon’s Conclusion

Solomon experienced the extraordinary gift of wisdom, and that wisdom opened doors most people could only dream of. Through it, he gained:

• Money

• Power

• Influence

• Success

• Access to pleasure

• Recognition from nations

Anything most human beings think will satisfy them, Solomon basically had access to it.

And after everything, Solomon ends the book of Ecclesiastes with a powerful conclusion. After all the wisdom, he realized what actually mattered most:

Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”— Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV

Imagine that.

The man known for wisdom ends by telling us that the whole matter comes back to fearing God and obeying Him.

Nothing to do with gifts …..

Fear God. Keep His commandments.

Solomon’s own life proves the point of this entire message: You can be extremely gifted and still make choices completely outside God’s will.

Jesus gave us the greatest commandment:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

— Matthew 22:37 NKJV

Nothing there about gifts…And Jesus makes love practical:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

— John 14:15 NKJV

There it is again. Obedience. But here’s where I have a genuine question.

We have all these people walking in gifts, barely reading their Bibles, yet believing the gift itself means they have a genuine relationship with God and are in alignment with Him. Interesting. 👀

How are you going to obey God if you don’t read His Word?

How? If the only Bible you receive is whatever your pastor chooses to preach on Sunday, you’re living on somebody else’s revelation. You’re living on somebody else’s understanding of truth instead of knowing the Word for yourself. 

And that’s how you end up knowing only half-truths. I believe this is one of the reasons so many people can confuse having a gift with having a relationship with God—they’ve heard pieces of Scripture, but they haven’t searched the bible for the whole truth for themselves.

• Your pastor can teach you.

• Your pastor can guide you.

But your pastor cannot know God for you. At some point, open the Bible for yourself. Genesis to Revelation.

Read the beautiful parts. Read the uncomfortable parts. Read the verses nobody puts on mugs. Read until you understand His character—what He loves, what He hates, what pleases Him, and what grieves Him. The point? Read ALL of the bible.

The whole counsel of Scripture won’t just comfort you—it will confront you, and the Holy Spirit will guide you into the whole truth.

You cannot build deep intimacy with God  while refusing to learn what God  has  revealed about himself  through his word.

In my opinion, if you consistently refuse to read the Bible for yourself, you cannot claim to truly know God or have a relationship with Him.

How can you say you know Him when you don’t know His Word? You may know sermons about Him, and what other people have told you about Him—but knowing about God is not the same as knowing God for yourself.

Work Out Your Salvation, Not Your Gift

Philippians 2:12 says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

It doesn’t say: Work out your gift with fear and trembling.

But look at how obsessed Christianity can become with gifts.

• What’s my gift?

• Am I prophetic?

• How do I activate my gift?

• How do I grow my gift?

Okay.

But when was the last time you asked: God, is there anything in my life that is grieving You?

When was the last time you prayed: Search me.

When was the last time you read something in Scripture that offended your lifestyle—and changed your lifestyle instead of changing your interpretation?

That’s where things get real.

Because everybody wants God to reveal mysteries. Not everybody wants God to reveal themselves.

I'll close with John the Baptist's Life

John’s life destroys our obsession of gifts.. The Bible makes this almost shocking statement:

“John performed no sign…”

— John 10:41 NKJV

• No recorded miracle.

• No healing crusade.

• No spectacular sign.

We aren’t given stories of John telling everybody his dreams. Yet Jesus said:

“Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist…”

— Matthew 11:11 NKJV

Wait.

No signs—but Jesus called him great?

Exactly. Because Heaven’s measurement of alignment isn’t our measurement.

• John obeyed.

• John preached repentance.

• John prepared people for Jesus.

• John confronted sin even when it eventually cost him his life.

And most importantly, John knew he wasn’t the main character.

When Jesus came, John said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”— John 3:30 NKJV

Whew. That’s alignment .

That’s someone who understands:

• My gift isn’t about building my identity

• My entire life is supposed to point toward Jesus.

John performed no sign, yet Jesus praised him.

Meanwhile, Matthew 7 shows people performing wonders whom Jesus says He never knew. If that doesn’t break our obsession with gifts, I don’t know what will.

Please Don’t Let Your Gift Deceive You

That’s really the heart of this message. I’m not telling you gifts are bad. They’re beautiful. Use them. Steward them. Thank God for them. But never use your gift to measure your relationship with God.

• If you dream accurately—wonderful. Do you obey Him?

• If you prophesy—wonderful. Do you know Him?

• If you speak in tongues—wonderful. What does your private life look like?

Because the scariest thing about Matthew 7 is that those people were surprised. They thought their works  and gifts proved something. Jesus exposed that they had been measuring the wrong thing.

Don’t wait until judgement day to discover you’ve been using the wrong measuring stick.

Because when everything is over, I would rather know God deeply than spend my entire life being celebrated for a gift while being a stranger to the God who gave it.

Music Time 🎶

Marcus Rogers — “Alabaster Box”