Use your gift!

The Bible says, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God” (vv. 10-11 NLT). Some people think that you must have an epiphany, a Damascus Road experience such as Paul had, in order to know you are “called.” No, the gift God gave you is the key to knowing what He wants you to do. You can’t always be what you want to be, but you can be what God calls you to be. What do you love doing, and do well? Is music your forte? Crunching numbers? Working with kids? “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving” (1 Corinthians 12:7 CEV). That means some of the things other people find boring will actually energize and enrich you. The Bible says that God is building a “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). And there is a place for you in it. That dispels the misconception that you’re not valuable because you don’t have the same talents other people do. It also defines your actual responsibility by doing away with the myth that you’re supposed to do everything. Your goal should be to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for you (see 1 Corinthians 12:27 TLB). So today, instead of apologizing for skills you don’t have, unpack the gift God has given you and put it to work.