Gift of music?

[BassbyGrace]

I've been doing a lot of meditating on this subject off and on for quite a few yrs.  So often we say music or the ability to play, sing, etc is a "Gift" that we were given from birth to glorify God.  So often that has been drilled to many us. Many interweave also that with "talent".  I remember my first "hmm" moment came from when I was reading about the spiritual gifts (prophecy, tongues, etc) and none had to do with music or playing.  I did begin to understand why many gospel musicians also became preachers and other things.  I began to learn that music is not the end all be all for us that play or sing.  Anyway, I was reading this http://www.gotquestions.org/difference-talent-spiritual-gift.html and found it quite enlightening.  What are your thoughts?

The summary:

To summarize the differences between spiritual gifts and talents: 1) A talent is the result of genetics and/or training, while a spiritual gift is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit. 2) A talent can be possessed by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, while spiritual gifts are only possessed by Christians. 3) While both talents and spiritual gifts should be used for God’s glory and to minister to others, spiritual gifts are focused on these tasks, while talents can be used entirely for non-spiritual purposes.

 

[phbrown]

make sense to me

[Mysteryman]

I think of music as a gift in the sense of being a present not as being one of the spiritual gifts. Sometimes we forget that we have a creative mind and abilities that come to every man on earth. We get caught in the idea of the Holy Spirit doing everything and see it as a negative when we do something on our own. For example if you write a secular love song someone would say you wrote it but if you write a gospel song it would be said the Lord did it. We are creative beings and have the ability to do some things on our own. There are times when something inspires you to do something. The Spirit can inspire you to do things also. That doesn't always mean he wrote every word but he just inspired you.

[Mysteryman]

To add:

I also believe God gives people knowledge on how to do things which is another form of inspiration of the Holy Ghost. You could categorize that into a word of knowledge but that could be a stretch. The bible does say that there are diversities of operations and differences of administrations. I believe it's something supernatural. Everyone does not have supernatural gifts.

[raegenius]

hmm, this article would seem to suggest that if my playing of the keyboard is a talent because, 1) It's genetic and 2) I trained myself to do so. It speaks to a spiritual gift as something given upon becoming a Christian. I became a Christian (more specifically was baptized) at the age of 13. I did not start to learn to play the keyboard until the age of 18. I practiced everyday for one solid year (18-19), there was a drive so strong, to do it. Thinking back on it, it was supposed to be hard, but the practice came across as easy. I sincerely don't believe I would ever again play major scales everyday for a year in my life. I only play for the benefit of my church and up to this point I have not played otherwise (except practicing at home of course).

Could it be that I am using this talent as a spiritual gift?

How do we know how God decides to impart a spiritual gift to us?  It may be just giving us access to information, or hearing or seeing particular things that influence us in a particular direction. It may not have to be only a miraculous transformation.  I say, for some it's a gift, I know that I used to play a song being sung in Bb in F, so I know I did a lot of work to get where I am today. I would never however say that I did it without the help of God and that to me is a gift. Praise the Lord!!