Gifted For Service

When we think of ministry gifts in the church, we usually think of the "five-fold" gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher (Ephesians 4:12). Most Christians would not readily claim any of those gifts, and quite rightly so, but that does not mean each believer has not been blessed with at least one spiritual gift that should be used for the glory of God. In his first letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul reminds them, "God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. . . . Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!" (12:4,7, The Message).

It is true that the gifts given to ministers and Christians in the early church were for the spreading of the gospel and the conviction of unbelievers, and what was true then is still true today. However, some of the gifts bestowed on some believers can be exercised in everyday life with people we meet. We can encourage someone who needs encouragement, help someone with a task that few would probably notice, be an organizer where those skills are needed, pray, intercede, and comfort. These are just some of the ways in which God's people can impact the spheres of influence we find ourselves in, if we take the time to look out for and recognize the opportunities that God has placed before us to represent Him. Maybe a young mother could use some help, your local food bank another volunteer, your child(ren)'s school another pair of hands in the lunch room, and your local church another helper; the opportunities are endless. As ambassadors of Christ, the only Jesus that some people will ever see is the one they see in us and the things we do.

God expects us to be productive (John 15:2), and for that we need to use our gifts. For some of us that gift may be underutilized, and in some others, dormant. Isn't it time to "stir up the gift of God which is in thee"? (2 Timothy 1:6, KJV). The appeal of Jesus was, "Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (John 4:35), yet "the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few" (Matthew 9:37). Every committed Christian has a responsibility to answer that call and to become harvesters of souls for the kingdom of God.

There is an area of service for which you have been gifted and which is waiting for you to step into. What has God gifted you to do?

Tomorrow...

"See you tomorrow!" "Have a good weekend; see you on Monday!" How many times have you said or heard those words said to someone?  For some of us, the statements are ones we often say without thinking about them; they are part of our social interactions. Yet there is something presumptive about them. They assume that for us there will be a tomorrow; that we will live through the weekend to see another Monday. That assumption is easy to make.  After all, we have seen many "tomorrows" and "Mondays" over the course of our lifetime so far. It is easy to take it for granted.

Not surprisingly, the Bible has something to say on this presumption on a precarious life. In his letter to the early church community which included merchants who traded from city to city, James writes, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16, NKJV).  The boasting referred to is the reliance on self and the implication that one that can live independently of God; boastings of the continuance of life and our ability to go about our business doing the things we want to do without due regard for the uncertainties of life.

However, James mentions that such a position is evil and reminds us that human life is like a vapor, a mist we see in the morning which expires almost as soon as it exists with the rising of the sun . The Chronicles writer observes that "our days on earth are as a shadow" (1 Chronicles 29:15), and Job affirms, "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue" (Job 14:1-2). It is interesting that life is mentioned in terms of days and not years.  In other words, in the big scheme of things it really is that short.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, that brevity is worth remembering. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us, no matter how many "tomorrows" we have seen so far. Next time we are tempted to say "See you tomorrow," or we start making plans for tomorrow, let us train our minds to follow James' advice: "Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" Wise words indeed.

Who Is to Be "Blamed"? - Part II

How much of what goes "wrong" in our lives do we hold God responsible for? The tendency to blame someone else has been with us since Eden.  You might recall that after the Edenic fall, Adam blamed Eve who blamed the serpent (Genesis 3), and if the serpent could have passed on the blame he probably would have. In Israel's stunning and totally unexpected defeat at Ai, one could see the "blame" coming - "And Joshua said, 'Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?'" (Joshua 7:7, NIV).

Of course, God made it clear to Joshua that Israel was defeated because "Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions" (v. 11).  It is instructive that Joshua did not ask God if there was something they had done. There was no introspection; they were sure they were in the right and it was God who had brought them across the Jordan to deliver them into the hands of the Amorites to destroy them. We probably would have felt the same way and done the same thing. Sometimes the hardest person to look at and hold accountable is our individual selves!

This tendency is not at all unusual. Proverbs 16:2 reminds us, "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits" (KJV). In other words, as Bible scholar Albert Barnes observes, "We are blind to our own faults . . . [but] there is One who tries not the 'ways' only, but the 'spirits.' Matthew Henry picks up on the first point when he writes, "We are all apt to be partial in judging of ourselves: All the ways of a man, all his designs, all his doings, are clean in his own eyes, and he sees nothing amiss in them, nothing for which to condemn himself, or which should make his projects prove otherwise than well; and therefore he is confident of success, and that the answer of the tongue shall be according to the expectations of the heart; but there is a great deal of pollution cleaving to our ways, which we are not aware of, or do not think so ill of as we ought."

So what is the remedy? Because all our ways are clean in our eyes, our evaluation of ourselves and what we are responsible for often lacks objectivity; it is skewed. Our actions must always be measured against the truth of God's Word, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12, KJV). Before we start blaming God, or someone else when something goes wrong, let us first look at ourselves (our actions, thoughts, and attitudes) in the mirror of the Word.  It is the only place in which we can see ourselves as we really are; to see that we are probably not as "innocent" as we would like to think.

Reaching for the Goal

Sometime ago I shared with a friend that my heart's desire was to be in the nucleus, the core, of God's will for my life. As a matter of fact, I have harbored that desire for quite some time now because of my conviction that of all the places in life to be, there is no place safer. However, I continue to learn that having the desire and actually being there are often times as far apart as the east is from the west. Or so it seems. I often have to remind myself that God's grace is what bridges the gap between where I am and where I need to be, and despite the challenges and the number of times I have stumbled, my responsibility is to keep pressing towards the goal.

I reflected on this as I read Paul's letter to the Christians in Philippi, and the passion with which he articulated his thoughts on his goal. According to The Message's paraphrase, Paul wrote: "Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ--God's righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience His resurrection power, be a partner in His suffering, and go all the way with Him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision--you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it" (Philippians 3:8b-16).

As we enter the start of another year, a time for personal resolutions for many, I am hard pressed to think of a better goal to take into 2016. To know Him as Paul desired demands a level of commitment that sees us surrendering ourselves and all that pertains to us to the Lordship of Christ. As we allow Him to take over lives, God begins to shape us to conform to the image of his Son Jesus, and we know that His desire was to always do the will of the Father (John 5:30).

What is your main desire? Is there room in it to diligently pursue after and do whatever it takes to know Christ more personally?

To you and yours, God's very best for a year of abundant blessings.