Don’t wish to be someone
else! To wish to handle a ball like a Protea or a
Springbok, or make a speech in the way a professional does, or play the organ
and piano as well as Riaan (our organist / pianist) does, makes no sense –
except if one of these things is your God-given talent.
Perhaps you feel you
received the short end of the stick when it comes to gifts, talents and making
a difference? If you feel like this here at the beginning of a new year, take heart - God has good news for you.
Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 12:18: “But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every
one of them, just as He wanted them to
be”.
The Corinthian church was
made up of a great variety of people. God also gave each of the Christians in this
church a whole range of special gifts – Spiritual gifts. The purpose of the
gifts was to help others in the church develop to full maturity in Christ and
more importantly, to grow God’s work in the congregation to its full potential.
But instead of using the various gifts as God intended them to be used, many of
the Corinthians argued about whose Spiritual gift was the most important and
which gift gave the person who received it, the highest status in the
congregation.
Yet, they forgot that God
gave each church member in Corinth exactly what he wanted them to have. Some
failed to use the gift given to them by the Spirit, yet they were envious of
the role someone else played in God's work at church.
It still happens today. We
seem to forget that if God called and equipped us to serve him in a certain way,
capacity, or office, that task is the most important one that we can ever do! If
we strive for someone else’s role, responsibility and task in the congregation,
while neglecting the calling God gave us to do, we will fail twice – firstly in
our own calling - and secondly in the calling we are not called to do and
therefore cannot expect the Lord’s blessing on, or wait for the gifts of the
Spirit to be able to do it.
Believe this: God has gifted you
in a very specific way. And this is the only way in which you can have true joy
in the Lord’s work. You need to allow
God to get from you what he had placed in you and also desire and pray for his amazing
blessings on what he has given you to do. God expects you to do what he has given you to
be able to do, and for which purpose he has given you the Spiritual gifts, in
order to be blessed in that role and with that project.
The Lord has tailor made a
role for you in his work. It is his choice for you, and God's choices are
always the perfect choices. Do not fail twice by desiring someone else's gifts
and role, but rather take pleasure in your own, fulfil your commission and
serve the Master in the way and for the purpose he has called you.
The Word’s promise is that
your work for the Lord will be blessed and you will be fulfilled as you live
and work according to his divine will.
Pray that in 2013 the
Father will help you to recognize the gifts, calling and projects he intends
for you. Ask the Lord to take away the
desires that are not his will for you to do, in the New Year. And let’s all pray for the gift of diligence
when serving in his Kingdom. Let’s
ask for the gift of faithfulness!
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