Grace is a word we use to describe God’s free gifts. It comes in different shades:
1. Talent: Talent can’t be learned, it can be developed. A talented person who doesn’t work to develop it is not better than someone who doesn’t have it. It’s like someone who can read but doesn’t read, such a person is not different from someone who can’t read.
Spiritual talents are called charisms. No one can have them unless given by God. People who don’t have them can only mimic them, and anyone discerning enough will know who truly has and who merely mimics. Those who have them must work to develop them. There’s work in grace and grace is at work.
2. Skills: They can be acquired. You can learn to sing, to fabricate, to reason like academics, to do business, to be an entrepreneur, etc. Grace is the capacity and ability God has given every one to acquire any skill. If animals were given the same grace, human beings would not be dominating them. Most expertise that produces most things we use in life comes from skills( manufacturing, leadership, administration, research, teaching, etc). To acquire skills, you gotta work. Messi is talented, Ronaldo has skills, and both of them have reached enviable heights that the argument about which is greater is vacuous. Both of them work hard. There is work in grace and grace is at work.
3. Opportunity: It either comes to you or you discover it. Only a few people get opportunities that come their way, most others who became outstanding in life discovered or created opportunities. Some talents and skills create opportunities, every talent and skill needs opportunities to blossom. The most competent governments are those that create opportunities for their citizens to thrive, or provide an enabling environment for citizens to create opportunities to thrive. Go get your PVC.
These are the levels of grace. They are not the prerogative of any religion, denomination, or spirituality because God is the father of all, he has no favorites, Rom 2:9-11 says distress and glory will come to those who do bad and good respectively, irrespective of their religious inclination, there is no favoritism with God. In Acts 10:34 Peter said God has no favorites, he accepts anyone who fears him and does right. he doesn’t practice favoritism.
Grace for material prosperity is free, that’s why it’s available for everyone, if you are doing anything to obtain it, then it’s no more grace. Develop your talent if you are gifted with one, acquire skills, embrace, discover or create opportunities, that’s the way to go.
These shades of grace are scattered everywhere because God is the sower who doesn’t even care about the nature of the soil, he just scatters the seed to everyone, both those in a state of grace and those not in it, Matt 13. Stop wasting your time on fantasies. When God is at work, grace is at work, since God is at work, grace is always at work. There are work, protocols, and qualifications in grace, and there’s grace in them.
