There are different kinds of gifts,
but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God
works all of them in all men (1Corinthians 12:4-6)….. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to us. If a man's gift is
prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his
faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is
teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give
generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if
it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully( Romans 12:6-8).
I grew up in a church going family; my mum was my Sunday school
teacher while my dad always bought me bible based story books. Not that I really knew
who God was but I really loved reading the bible. To me it was a book full of
great stories. When I was in class seven, I joined a boarding school where
every Saturday evening was spent practicing songs that we would present in
church the following day. I really hated the singing but I had to attend the practices
and sing in church because it was compulsory for every girl. I was a bad singer
(my singing voice is horrible) and my singing was and is still bad (I love
music though ).
I always thought that singing was the only thing that anyone would do, so even
when I joined High school, I still joined the Christian Union choir. I was
still not born again though and I did not understand what that really meant. I also
had not learnt how to interpret the word because I didn’t have the Holy Spirit
in me.
I later got born again in form three and received the Holy
Spirit. I however could not read the scripture for long because after three
months of being born again I backslid. Due to this reason, I still remained
ignorant about the different gifting. It wasn’t until four years later when I rededicated
my life to Christ that I started understanding the things of God clearly. It was
then that I received a vision about my purpose, but then I was in denial. Reason?
I had rededicated my life to Christ but I had still remained in sin and
continued with my old life and sins (talk of God’s grace). Slowly and through
the help of the Holy spirit, I was able to read the word of God and understand.
In due time I came across Romans12:4-8. I took time in prayer and meditation
and God clearly revealed to me what my gift was. On top of it, my past life, which
was to be a testimony and a ministry was and is still so much in line with this
gift. My ministry is all about my gift. I remember in a different writing when I
wrote how God had mercy on me that he gave me a gift/ ministry to serve him (2 Corinthians
4:1).
We all have different gifts. I may not know what your gift is;
I did not know mine either until the Lord showed me through his word. But I can
tell you that you need to know that you have a gift and God expects you to
utilize it. I remember in church last Sunday when we read about the master who
had given his servants some talents. One of his servants however decided to
hide his talent in the ground while the rest worked on theirs. When the master
came back, he was so disappointed in him. He took it from him and the servant
lost the right to remain in the master’s kingdom (Matthew 25:14-30). I believe
the same thing will happen on judgment day. There will be rewards for all the
work that we will have done using the different gifts that the Lord has given
us.
Furthermore, the Lord expects us to use these gifts to serve Him and each other and to enhance His Kingdom. In the Acts 9:32-43, we see how
both Peter and Dorcas (also called Tabitha) had used their gifts to serve others
and enhance the kingdom of God. We see how people in Lydda turned to God when
they saw Peter heal Aeneas who had been paralyzed. We also see how the widows
in Joppa were so sad when Dorcas died. They even went ahead to look for Peter
and ask him to bring her to life. I am sure there were other people who had
died in the nearby or even others who were unwell and could be healed. But they
specifically went to seek Peter for the sake of Dorcas. Why? The scripture
clearly tells us that Dorcas had dedicated herself to serving the widows. They even
had evidence to show for her great kindness and generosity to them which is
also a gift from God.
Our service has great impact to the body of Christ and other
people around us. In Romans 12, the bible says that we are one body with
different parts. These parts have different functions. Just as different as we
are, we need to utilize our different gift to serve the Lord. We should however
never get into the temptation of exalting ourselves or boasting because of our
gifts or thinking of ourselves better than others because of what we have. We need
to remember that it is because of his mercy that he gave us these gifts. We should
serve him in humility and seek him to guide us in all that we do with them. Remember
also that it is God working in us through them.
God bless you.
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