Tim H. Swanson
Imagine two people want to join your team.
Now they're both after the same position, so you can only choose one of them. The first one has heart. He loves what your team stands for. He's passionate and his values line up with those of your team. There's just one problem. He's not very skilled. For what you'd need him to do, he'd be considered a beginner. He doesn't have any real experience to speak of, but he does have heart.
The second guy's a little different. He's incredibly skilled. If you went with him, he'd certainly knock it out of the park every week. Here's the problem, his values don't really line up with those of your team. It's not that he doesn't agree with the vision, he just doesn't seem to care. He shows up on time, but he also leaves right after everything is over, and doesn't really invest in relationships with others. But remember, he's very good at what he does.
Which one do you choose?
A lot of leaders think there’s a right and wrong way to side on this matter. Some say heart trumps all. If a person has passion, then he or she is the right person. Others argue that talent is the most essential element. Many leaders argue that their view is the ‘correct’ one, but there’s a problem with that. The Bible doesn’t take one side or the other when it comes to the issue of heart and skill.
We clearly see God’s value of a person’s heart in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but The Lord looks at the heart.” However, in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30), Jesus describes the importance of working hard to give God a return on the investment He has made in us. And there are plenty of other points in Scripture that support both perspectives. So neither view is wrong, but they’re not mutually exclusive either. In God’s kingdom, there’s room for many different perspectives on this issue.
The reality is, in the matter of heart vs. skill most people don’t land on one extreme or the other. Most of us would be closer to a middle ground, where we lean a little more to one side than the other. In that way, its more like a spectrum than a battle where it’s one vs. the other. I looks a little like this:
Most positions on this spectrum can be well defended by Scripture. Coincidentally, contrary to the viewpoint of some leaders, the only positions you’d really have trouble defending are the extreme ends of the scale which would exclude the opposite side.
Ultimately, the question isn't whether your view is right or wrong.
The better question is this: Where do you land on this scale? That’s a safe question to answer. There’s no condemnation in it, because God uses people on both sides. It’s alright to admit that you’re more talent focused or more heart focused. Whichever way you lean, it’s likely that you lean that way because that’s how God made you.
I have always landed slightly to the talent end, and I used to feel bad about it. I was worried it meant I was shallow. With some experience, I’ve learned that it’s not shallowness. It’s the way God made me, and He frequently uses it for good. Right now I have a team full of people who are on the skill end of the spectrum, and they work together to accomplish great things for God’s glory. The matter of heart and skill isn’t a battle, and there isn’t a right and wrong side. It’s a diverse spectrum, and people land in different places all over it. It’s one of the things that makes the Body of Christ so wonderful.
So here’s the burning question for you: Where do you land on the spectrum of heart and skill?
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