The Bible says every Christian is given a gift to use for the glory of God. Do you know what yours is?
We each have a gift bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit--He gives as He sees fit to give, it's up to Him. From administration to teaching, service to exhortation, generosity to mercy, prophecy. Sometimes I've studied these gifts and gotten so confused that I thought I had them all. Other times I've wondered what in the world my gift was. I've questioned why I've been so blessed or cursed at times because I was able to do so many things. Yet in all I've been able to do, I feel sometimes I've accomplished so little with the gifts I've been given.
Ever feel like that?
Jesus describes the kingdom of God with a parable of the talents: A Master handed out talents to his servants; some invested theirs wisely and produced dandy profits. However one fella buried his--he did nothing with it. And when the master returned, he had nothing to show for what he'd been given.
Being a minister's wife, I've found myself organizing large events with the administrative gift, teaching classes with the teaching gift, serving with the service gift and sharing Jesus with the evangelist gift. Again and again, I've seen these gifts utilized in me, yet could not for the life of me figure out how I could be doing what I was doing. I believe that is because it was the Spirit of God doing it through me--not me of myself. Why?
Because I would rather eat raw worms than organize events. I'd rather commend those who've organized than strategize and chart. I'd rather cheerlead than perform. I'd rather give ideas than execute ideas. I'd rather praise others than be praised (even though I bask in the glory of a compliment). So to me, I think I've discovered the main gift in my life.
Some folks have told me I have a gift of writing (haven't found that one in scripture). A lot of people can write and they write nonsense. In fact, they write intelligent-sounding nonsense. So I don't believe that writing is necessarily a gift--but a vessel for the gift. I've used my writing abilities to send notes to people, write skits for youth-led services, puppet shows for children's worship, publish magazine articles and even a newspaper. But somehow, in my heart, I've always felt like it wasn't enough. It's as if I'm waiting for some result that never appears--as if I've buried the gift within me somewhere.
Perhaps that is the mystery in the gift. We will not always see the results of our gifts in our lifetime. That is why it is so important to not wait till a more convenient time to use them. Otherwise, we might end up like the servant who buried his talent. He did nothing with it, and the Master was not at all happy to discover he had done nothing. To the master, doing nothing was really something. Something most displeasing of all. selahV
"Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days." Ecclesiastes 11:1.
OH...DON'T FORGET to visit dailyIMPACT by selahV for the devotional thought I write each day.
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]
