Using your gifts

 Using your gifts

The apostle Peter wrote,

"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.

Do you use the gifts you have received for God? Do you believe you have any gifts God can use?

Sadly there are many within the church who don’t think they have any gifts God can use. Which is sad because if you are willing God will use you for the furtherance of His Kingdom.

I knew a young woman named Sharon who thought she had no gifts. She came from a poor background. People in the small town where she lived looked down on her and her family.

She wasn’t well educated. She certainly couldn’t preach from the pulpit. She didn’t communicate things well and she was “socially awkward”. Unsure how to act in certain circumstances. 

When I met her she was sweeping floors and cleaning tables at a Christian coffee shop outreach where I was performing.

Long story short. Within two years of my meeting her we were married and we were living along way away from here home town, where people didn’t know her.

Our marriage changed her life in many ways. We got involved with a good church, where she became a volunteer librarian. Additionally we hosted a bible study in our apartment.

During those early years we also moved around quite a bit before a series of events brought us to a small Canadian city where we settled down and joined a church.

Again Sharon volunteered as a librarian. At the same time she got involved with various Christian women’s groups both with our church and outside.

At the same time we opened our house particularly on holidays. We’d invite people who were going to spent the holidays alone to come. An event Sharon liked hosting.

Now Sharon never became a great preacher, teacher, or evangelist and her name will one day be lost to history. Still that doesn’t matter. She is known to God and she gave what she had for God to use and he did.

When she passed away after a long illness over a hundred people came to her funeral. All of whom had been touched by her life in one way or another.

Sharon had always called herself “ordinary”. With very little for God us use. Yet she gave what she had and blessed many by doing so.

So my point here is if God can use Sharon a poor girl from a small Canadian village. He can use you. You may not become a world renowned evangelist. But then very few who work for the Lord are.

The important thing is, as the apostle Peter wrote,

"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.

Are you doing this?

Please think about it.

We have a place

  We have a place

The apostle Paul writes,

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.  

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  

And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  

But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." 1 Corinthians 12:12-18.

The point the apostle Paul is making here is that we all have a place in God’s work. Paul states in Corinthians 12:28,

“And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.  1Corinthians 12:28.

  There is always some place for us to serve in a Church. We can’t all be pastors, apostles, teachers. But we all can contribute to God’s work. Even if it is simply serving at a church dinner. Cleaning the church. Setting things up for the Sunday service of other events. All are important.

If you are a believer in Christ Jesus. Why not take sometime right now to pray asking God to show you where you can help in your church congregation?

Please think about it.

What God asks

   What God asks

In the book of Deuteronomy we read,

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good Deuteronomy 10:12,13.

Here God is speaking directly to Israel and by extension I believe He is speaking to the church as a corporate body.

God is making it clear what He requires. 

1/ to fear the LORD. (Have respect for Him)

2/ to walk in the ways God has commanded.

3/ to love God.

4/ to serve God with all your heart and soul.

5/ to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

He then finishes by stating it is for the believers own good.

These are not difficult things to follow. And ultimately they will strengthen our faith in God.

Please think about it.

Are you ready

Are you ready

In Matthews gospel we see Jesus quoted as saying,

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come....

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”Matthew 24:42,44.

If you consider yourself a Christian. A believer in Christ Jesus are you prepared for His return?

When He returns will He see you doing His work?

Another question all who believe in Christ Jesus need to consider is Pauls advice to Timothy when he writes,

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  2 Timothy 2:15.

Are you doing this?

Please think about it.

Rest

Rest
In the book of exodus we read,
“Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” Exodus 20:9,10.
With this scripture we as Christians could get into a debate about if we should rest on Saturday or Sunday. We could get very legalistic and debate what constitutes work on the Sabbath.
Critics of Jesus in his day criticised him and his disciples for picking and eating grain as they walked through a grain field. Matthew’s gospel noting,
“At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.  
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:1,2.
The Pharisees seen Jesus and his disciples as harvesting the grain. Work, an unlawful act on the Sabbath.
The way I see things here is we shouldn’t get legalistic. Does it really matter when we take a day of rest as long as we take a day of rest. I worked for years in an industry where I had to work on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday afternoons. While I attended church Sunday morning my day of rest was usually Monday.
On Monday people knew not to bother me. It was a day for me to rest and revitalize myself.
I think that’s what God intended by setting aside one day to rest.
In our 24/7 culture where quite often the work is brought home and even taken on vacations. We need to heed God and take twenty-four hours for ourselves every week to rest and relax. It certainly can’t do any harm and will probably do us a world of Good.
Please think about it.