6 We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that have been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith. 7 If your gift is service, devote yourself to serving. If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. 8 If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouraging. The one giving should do it with no strings attached. The leader should lead with passion. The one showing mercy should be cheerful.
Reflection
If God gave you a gift, what would it be? Serving or Evangelism or Teaching or Prophecy or Shepherding or Mercy or Giving or, well the list goes on and on. Did any of these gifts land on you. Don’t worry if they didn’t. There are many other gifts that God can, and does, use to help us Christians as we try to make it through each day. And the thing is, He gives each of us at least one gift, maybe several.
When I started preparing for this devotional, I didn’t think that we all were given a gift. But, as I’ve learned many times as a Christian, I was wrong. Look at Romans 12:3 or 1 Corinthians 7:7 or 1 Corinthians 12:7 or 1 Peter 4:10. And there are other verses as well.
We aren’t supposed to hoard these gifts. We are supposed to use them to benefit our fellow Christians or non-Christians. We all don’t need to preach or shepherd or evangelize but I think we should all be doing these things, at least a little, in our regular life.
I read in ChurchGrowth.org that: “Some Christians, in an attempt to humble themselves, deny that God would give them a gift. To that statement comes the reply: Humility is the correct evaluation of your abilities and disabilities and living in the light of that evaluation. Humility is not a matter of denying one’s God-given ability and potential, but of recognizing its presence, developing it and being thankful for it.
Yes, God has given each of us a gift. Ask Him to make it plain go you as help grow the kingdom.
by Rick Reed
For Pondering and Prayer
Don’t think God hasn’t given you a gift. Ask Him to help you recognize it. And then use it to make the church grow.
Prayer: Holy God, imagine if we were all using our gifts. Help us to find and use them. Amen.
