Day 32 – Using What God Gave You
God deserves your best…
When we consider how God has “shaped” us, and we discover our Spiritual gifts, see the Heart and passions we have, what natural Abilities we have, appreciate and acknowledge our unique Personality, and how our Experiences have molded us, we then can offer this back to God for service. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect or worry about what we don’t have, he wants us to use what we do have.
The best use of our lives is to serve God out of our shape. How has he gifted you? Do you even know? If you have ever tried to do something outside of your “shape” you know it don’t you? It really is a waste of time and energy, as well as you wind up feeling like a square peg trying to be shoved into a round hole. This is not how God intended your talents to be used. In order to do this though, you need to really discover your shape, learn to enjoy it and develop it to the fullest potential.
“Do not act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:17 It’s time to find out who we are and act with deliberate intention to use what we discover, and it starts today. Do not let another day pass without clarifying what God intends for you to be and to do.
We begin the process by assessing our gifts and talents. This isn’t as hard as we would want to make it to be! Take a look at what you are good and what you are not good at. Make a list. Ask other people what they think. Tell them that you don’t want compliments, you want the truth. Spiritual gifts and natural abilities are always confirmed by others. If you think you are gifted with being able to sing, but everyone around you says that you can’t sing on key, maybe that’s not the place to serve…
Where have you already been successful? Where has there already been good fruit in my life? If you see an area of success, then you may consider “experimenting” with that area in your area of service for God. Where do you feel the most fully alive? What do I like doing that I completely lose track of time? Do I like being by myself or a part of a team? Do I enjoy competing or cooperating?
Many brothers and sisters, and even non-believers think that God calls them to a life of fruitless sacrifice and meaningless hard service. This is a lie and a misrepresentation of the intimate heart of God. He never intended you to be a sad servant, just waiting to get to heaven where you can be happy. The greatest joy on earth is realizing the person you were meant to be, and joyfully serving out of that place. The joy of the Lord comes from being who he called you to be. You need to see that…
As you review your past experiences, see how God may have used those to help you be who you are as well. Have you had painful experiences that you would rather forget. Maybe you were abused. Maybe you failed in a business or in a marriage. Perhaps you witnessed one or both of your parents passing away. These are significant areas of pain and shaping that God will use if you let him. Your experience can help someone else get through a rough time. It’s not areas to be forgotten, it’s areas to be healed and redeemed. God is merciful and compassionate….
We then move on to accept and enjoy our shape. Now that is an interesting idea isn’t it? Accept and enjoy our shape? What if I don’t like my shape?… after all I am not like “so and so” who has their life so together… they are so smart and they don’t seem to struggle like I do, and they have more money than me, and I seem to barely make it paycheck to paycheck…blah blah blah blah… STOP!
The Bible says ” What right have you as a human being to cross examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter, ‘Why did you make me this shape?’ Surely a potter can do what he likes with the clay.” Romans 9:20
Better get used to it my friend. Accept and enjoy how the potter has shaped you… don’t compare yourself. There will always be someone who will make you look real good, and someone else who can make you look like an idiot. We look best just as we have been designed, not trying to please everyone, or be someone who we aren’t. Comparisons steal our joy.
Just as we have been given physical muscles that need exercise to stay in shape or they atrophy and cannot work the way God intended, so are the talents God has given us. They need to be exercised or we lose them. Scary thought but true.. We need to practice with them. You are not born with any talent fully developed. For instance you may have a gift of music and be able to hear and sing notes on key. It takes practice to learn to read and play music though.
In the same way, we have opportunities to practice our gifts, grow and mature by using them. Maybe you like kids… have you ever thought that you could help teach kids, lead kids in worship, walk with kids that have no dad or mom, adopt a child, sponsor a child… the list goes on and on, in every area you can imagine… no one can do it the way YOU can do it, but it takes practice and a willingness to experiment a little bit. Try out new “exercise” routines.
Here’s the question to ponder today. “How can I make the best use of what God has given me?” Think about it and be encouraged… you can be a powerful agent of change by simply using what God gave you…