A short reading and prayer for today
If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Romans 12:7-8 NLT
In three of his letters, Paul talks about the gifts that God has given to Christians, and each list is very different. Here and in Ephesians chapter 4 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 he makes it clear that every follower of Christ has been given a unique gift from God which is vital for the church, the body of Christ. God gives his gifts according to the needs of the church, and I am quite sure that if Paul were writing today he would be keen to add the gift of helping with public address systems and digital technology. The Holy Spirit gives just the right gifts to his church to enable it to be effective.
The point that Paul is making here is that, once you have found your gift, you need to get on and use it. It isn’t like an award or certificate that you can put on display in a prominent place in your house so that you can show off to other people. Gifts are given so that they can be put to good use. There’s nothing more tragic than someone keeping their gift to themselves.
This means that it is vital that we should all know what our individual gift is. I don’t believe for a moment that God wants to keep this a secret from us, so if you can’t immediately identify your gift, I would encourage you to pray about it. Ask God to show you the gift that he has given you and remember that gifts change with time and circumstances. As we get older our strength and opportunities change and so the gift that he might give you now may be very different from the gift that you used to have. If you don’t hear God telling you what your gift is, then I would urge you to talk to a trusted friend about this. I suspect that they will quickly be able to identify your gift. And, whatever it is, remember that God wants you to use that gift wholeheartedly for him.
QUESTION
Do you know what your gift is? If not, what action are you going to take to identify it?
PRAYER
Loving God, thank you that you have given me a special gift. Help me to use it enthusiastically for you. Amen
Photo – Silver Birch