Question:

How do you promote your talent without compromising your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

The person who asked me the question was motivated to write to me after seeing the public speech and behavior of a young man, then a young woman who participated in a program such as “Moldova has Talent”, “Romanians have talent”, ” X Factor Ukraine ”. Both are well known to be Christians, evangelical believers, who say they are born again, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

At such programs it is usual to make a report about the participants. Some mentioned their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but others did not even mention anything about the Lord Jesus and their faith, as if it were foreign to them. Even the evolution of these artists, these brothers and sisters, have raised many questions in the minds of those who know them, of those in the church, and in the minds of their friends. There were also remarks about their attire, behavior, stance on marriage or dating, or other things. All of this has made some Christians feel unwell, even qualifying them as a bad witness to the Christian faith in public. I was asked, how should a Christian behave if a Christian decided to go to such a contest? If he appears in public to promote his talent, how do you proceed?

Young people need to consult with their pastors 

I hope that the girls and the boys who have already participated in these competitions have consulted with their pastors.

In the church I attend, the Church of the Annunciation in Chisinau, a team of athletes participated in the contest “Moldova has Talent” and presented the martial art of Taekwon-Do and made a beautiful presentation of Taekwon-Do. I remember them coming to me for advice as soon as the initiative came to one of them. One of the athletes came and consulted with me and told me their wish. Then we all got together, talked, prayed, and made a plan. I counseled and instructed them on how to proceed so that the Lord Jesus Christ would be preached and that the Lord Jesus Christ and our faith would be presented. We thought of a beautiful way for our Christian witness not to suffer, but on the contrary, that our Christian testimony would be visible, to be seen by as many people as possible. From the way some of them behaved, it seems that they either did not consult their pastors or did not listen to the advice of their pastors, because they acted very differently than what would have been expected.

I think we need to understand our calling well

Many young people have different talents and want to promote them, but let’s start with the call we have. What is my calling from God? What does God expect from me? What does God want me to do with my life? The honest answer to these questions shows how you invest your life.

Scripture says that if we are disciples of Jesus Christ, then we are expected to follow the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prior to His ascension from this earth, Jesus gave the apostles the great commission. The great commission is not only for the apostles but for all the disciples of Christ who will be in the ages to come and in our age and in the ages to come, until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe it will come very soon. Jesus said:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB)

Also, in the ascension, the Lord Jesus also told them that they would receive the Holy Spirit and thus be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This is our calling. We must follow His teaching and witness Him wherever we go. Whenever we go somewhere, we must confess the Lord Jesus Christ and tell people about our Lord Jesus Christ.

In 2 Peter, it is also written about our calling:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; or you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9,10 NASB)

So we don’t belong to ourselves anymore. God has won us over to Himself, to proclaim the wonderful powers of the One who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. Going to such a contest, you must ask yourself, “Will I somehow work to fulfill the calling that Jesus Christ gave me or will I not contribute to this calling?” If not, then you may not even deserve to participate. So ask yourself the following questions:

Will my participation in this contest contribute to the advancement of the work of the gospel?

Will my participation in this contest contribute to the spread of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Will my participation in this contest contribute to the proclamation of God’s wonderful works?

In 1 Corinthians 12, it is written that all of us Christians make up the Church of Christ, and the Church is the Body of Christ. We are each a member and have received spiritual gifts when we have received the Holy Spirit and believed in Jesus Christ. With these spiritual gifts we must build the Church of Christ. In order to participate in such a contest, we must ask ourselves, “Will this work to build up the Church of Christ, or, on the contrary, can it harm the Church of Christ?”

Another truth is that we were all created for the glory of God to glorify God. Think about whether participating in the competition will bring glory to God or bring shame to God and His teaching.

Translated by Aliona Soltan