SelahV Today by hariette petersen

JOY BEYOND THE BUBBLE

It's far more lasting than this.  It doesn't burst when some external splinter pierces the sphere of our souls.  No.  It lasts beyond the sheer joy of creating the perfect bubble of life.  It's the anticipation, the expectation, the faith that rests within--no matter what the weather is outside.  Life just bubbles over with the assurance that Christ is always with us. Always--come rain or shine.  That is joy.  selahV

BLOWING BUBBLES (/link)

What are you doing with your gift?

I gave my husband a pair of slippers for Christmas.  His old ones were totally worn out.  Holes in the toes, soles and sides.  Falling apart.  It's taken a while, but he has finally started wearing the new ones.  When he puts them on and goes to the mailbox, I feel all kinds of good inside.  I also gave him a book.  It sat on the shelf for a long time before he started reading it.  As long as it sat there, I wondered if he liked it.

Are you happy when you give someone a gift and they take delight in it when they open it?  Doesn't it give you greater joy when you see them wear it, read it, or use it?  When we become Christians, the Spirit of God gives us gifts to use in building up His church.  Imagine receiving the Spirit's gift and leaving it on a shelf--unused.  Can it please Him? Could it be that the church has lost its influence, its power, its productivity in society because there are so many gifts left unused?   

^"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Whether we are given hospitality, administration, exhortation, generosity, mercy, or any other gift, God wants us to use "whatever gift" we receive to serve others.  When we do this, we faithfully administer God's grace to others in various ways--as many ways as we are individually gifted.  Christ didn't just die to save us--He died that we might have life abundant.  Some of the greatest times in my Christian life have been when other Christians used their gifts to minister to me in my hour of need:

When I was lost and I was visited in my home, in the hospital, and months afterwards till I received Christ myself.  When my five-year-old son was hit by a school bus.  When our house needed to be roofed within two days, and men gathered in the pouring rain to replace it.  When my husband lost his job and church members supplied us with a truckload of food and money to pay the rent.  When we lost our 33 year-old son and people showed up in droves to comfort us--and helped us meet financial needs.  When my husband had his heart-attack and Christians supplied us with grocery money, rent money, and living expenses.  When they mowed our lawn, and loaned us an air-conditioned car.  When total strangers in a sister church from another state sent us money to supplement my husband's meager earnings.

Again and again, we have been recipients of the grace of God in various forms because of faithful Christians.  Christians gifted by the Spirit of God.  Christians using those gifts to minister.  Can I do less with my gift?  Can you?