Your Gift

I have written a couple times in posts this week about being all in as a follower of Jesus Christ.  Another area important to highlight in being all in is allowing God to work through you in the exercise of the gift He has given you.

An individual who is all in following Jesus uses the gift that God has graciously given to him or her to to obey Christ, build His people, and serve the world.

Every follower of Jesus has been given a spiritual gift. These are more than talents. These gifts are not natural, coming to us at birth, but are supernatural, coming to us at rebirth.

At least three primary places in the Bible give lists of the gifts God gives to His followers. These passages include 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. Why does God give us these gifts?

1. He gives these gifts to bring Himself glory. Exercising a gift we did not obtain naturally allows us not to take credit for it or to glory in the work accomplished through its use.
2. He gives these gifts to build up His community of people. We have differing gifts to accomplish different tasks and meet different needs among God's people. When each person exercises his or her gift, the people of God have what they need and function as they should.
3. He gives these gifts for reaching the nations. As God's people use their gifts and see the church, though imperfect, built up and strengthened, the church becomes a display of God's glory among the nations. Jesus declared that the church, by its love for one another, would be a loud testimony so that all the world would know we are His followers. Utilizing the spiritual gifts God has given is an act of love for each other and a testimony to the world.
4. He gives these gifts for meeting spiritual need. Our physical talents and gifts can be used within the church. Yet the church is first and foremost a spiritual community of worshipers who have spiritual need and work. The giving of spiritual gifts meets the spiritual needs of the church and enables the church to accomplish its spiritual work.

I am not in any way trying to be exhaustive with this list. What stands as most important is that God has given to each of us a spiritual gift God does not intend to be left unused or under-utilized. 

How has God gifted you? How are you using your gift(s)? You have been placed where you are to use your gift for God's glory, His people, and the advance of His kingdom.

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Thank God for His grace to give us generously all things.

2.  Ask God to make clear how He has gifted you.

3.  Pray for wisdom in how to exercise the gift He has given you in the way He desires.