What Have You Done With The Gift God Placed In You? Poem by Christen Kuikoua

Oh you men, what have you done?
Have you forgotten who made you?
Have you forgotten the hand that shaped you from dust
And breathed life into your lungs?

Have you grown so arrogant
That you now boast the very gifts God placed in you
As if they were born from your own power?

Oh, we fools.

The gift was never ours.

He who gave it did not do so for your fame.
He did not place it in you so you could build kingdoms for yourself.
He gave it so that through you the lost might find their way back to Him.

Yet look at what you have done.


Oh you preachers, answer heaven.
The Word in your mouth is not yours.
The pulpit you stand on is not yours.
The people who listen to you are not yours.

So why have you turned the house of God into a marketplace?
Why have you sold hope like cheap merchandise?
Why have you squeezed the poor for offerings
While calling it "blessing"?

You rob the flock
And dare to preach about faith.

Do you not fear God?

Do you not know that one day you will stand before Him
And every soul you misled will testify against you?
Oh you singers, hear this and tremble.
How proud you have become.
Your voice was meant to lift heaven into the earth,
Yet you use it to lift yourself above other men.

Has fame blinded you?
Has money corrupted you?
Has applause become the god you worship?

You chase what rots.
You chase what fades.
You chase what? Death applause?
And you dare to call it a ministry.

Know this.

You were created to carry the presence of God.
You were given a voice to lead hearts to repentance.
But you chose the stage over the altar.
And now our gift has become your curse.
You were meant to be priests before God,
Yet your hunger for attention turned your back on the One you claim to serve.

Repent.

Because one day every soul that admired you instead of God
Will be counted against you.

For you will give an account
For every soul that should have been led to God through praise
But was instead led to admire you.

Oh you prophets, listen carefully.

Why have you forged visions that God never spoke?
Why have you searched for power in places where God was not?

The revelation you chased through deception
Would have been given freely through intimacy with Him.

You sold your soul for what prayer would have given you.

Return to Him.
Repent.
And the gift you corrupted may yet be restored.

But remember this:
You will give an account before God.

Oh you stranger who says, "I have no talent."

Who told you that lie?

You have a mouth that can speak His name.
A mouth that can praise Him.

You have eyes that can guide a brother who is about to fall.
You have ears that can listen to a wounded heart.
You have hands that can lift the weak.
You have legs that can visit the sick and forgotten.

Do not call useless
What God Himself created.

Oh you poets who write of heartbreak and longing,
Why have you forgotten the greatest story to write?

Do you not know you are scribes?

Words were placed in your hands
So that truth could be written
And souls could be awakened.

Yet you write of everything
Except the One who gave you the pen.

Oh brothers, hear this plainly.

All of you were given gifts.
All of you were given talents.

But many have twisted them.
Many have corrupted them.
Many have used them for themselves.

So I ask you now the question heaven is asking:

What have you done with the gift God placed in you?

Remember this truth.

God did not create you to stand idle.
He did not give gifts to gather dust.

Everything He made
Was made for His glory.

So let this be remembered by every living soul:

Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord.

Amen.