“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house… or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Exodus 20:17

I think that includes gifts. I find myself coveting other people’s gifts – particularly other graphic designers.

“I wish my portfolio looked like that… Check out that HTML 5 trick!”

I’m a coveter. In the process of coveting others’ gifts, I despise my own. I often think of myself as a proverbial Jack-of-all-Trades (and good-at-nothing). I seem to have a knack at doing everything and wanting to know how it all works, from design to video to coding to content management systems to analytics, etc. So as soon as I see someone with better skills in one particular area, I get jealous. Why?

Because I not only broke the 10th commandment, I broke the first:

“You shall have no other gods before me.”
Exodus 20:3 ESV

Since my move to the Puget Sound, I’ve often found myself hourly prostrate at the altar of iMac, offering incense to the gods of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, chanting “O mighty social networking gods… I adjure you to show me employment opportunities…”

BTW, I know that perhaps some of you reading this may be potential employers, and if you are a potential employer, please take my thoughts with a grain of salt and click here to see my work. You should find that I’m a hard-working, multi-disciplined graphic designer. But, this is also who I am.

Anyway, so I find myself worshipping false gods called Resume and Portfolio in the temple of Career. But here’s the deal: these false gods didn’t give me my talents.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs… to work in every craft.’”
Exodus 31:1-5 ESV

I realized today that I’ve committed terrible idolatry. I’ve credited myself with craftsmanship and given no glory to the One who filled me with these gifts. He’s has made me and directed my paths to make me who I am and where I’m at. He’s made me more well-rounded than others, but in some aspects, not as specialized as others. I should be thankful for what He’s given me – being I deserve nothing. Everything I have has been purchased by my elder brother Jesus. I can abound and be abased, I can be employed or unemployed, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.