Skip to main content

Jesus' Pieces

1 Peter 4:10-11 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. (NLT)

    We are all designed with unique gifts from God that are to be used to show His glory through us. Every one of us carries our own little piece of Jesus for the world to see. All we have to do with these gifts is receive them and use them to bring Him glory.

    We were not given gifts only to sit on them or use for our own selfish enjoyment. They are meant to glorify Jesus Christ. We get to enjoy the benefits of that, but the gifts themselves are not solely for us. Everything He gives us is for a purpose. It is our job to identify our gifts and find venues to use them. For example, if you feel you have a gift of hospitality, how can you use that to glorify God? Or As 1 Peter illustrates, a gift to speak or help others. If we do not use our gifts, they become obsolete. We are supposed to use them, or fan them into flame, so they grow and we can glorify Jesus on an even larger scale!

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (NIV)

    Another interpretation of 1 Peter 4:10 says that we are to be "good managers" of our gifts. We have to be wise about what we do with our talents and abilities. How are you using yours? Do you know what they are? Sometimes we can get caught up in comparing ourselves with others and imitating or longing for their gifts. This is the complete wrong way to approach this. We are not made in the image of man, but in the image of God! We strive to be like Him, not others. When we fixate on trying to be like others, we miss out on living in the fullness of Christ in us! We are all important and needed in the body of Christ and we can't waste time and effort to be something we are not because not only will we not be fulfilled, but the body won't be complete without your piece.

1 Corinthians 12:27 All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. (NLT)

     Today pray for Jesus to identify your gifts to you and how He wants you to use them. Let Him guide you through this process. Look to Him and not to those around you and you will find fulfillment. Walking out life in the fullness of our gifts is a beautiful and rewarding thing. Don't miss out on it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dancing Through the Fire

     For a couple weeks now the Lord has been pressing this message on my heart. He revealed a flaw in my thinking I hadn't noticed. You see, when hard times come it's in my nature to duck and cover. I go into "survival mode" and I get tunnel vision. I only focus on getting through what's in front of me alive. But in doing so, not only do I miss a lot of opportunities, but I give in to the voice of fear in my life.     I know I don't speak only for myself when I say that God wants to us in our "every day lives." Not only at church or on a special mission trip, but in the trenches of the grocery store, the gym, work, etc. It is His will that every soul is saved and He wants us to go out into the world and win those hearts for Him. But when I put myself in survival mode, I block out all the opportunities God lays before me. When I numb myself with the routine of each passing day, week, and month, I miss out on sharing the one thing of eternal importa...
1 comment
Read more

The Path to Life

     Through this most recent season in life, God has been teaching me what it truly means to follow His plans for my life. Over the last year or so,  I have had to make some of the most ''adult" decisions in my life so far. Through that process, I have had to rely heavily on faith and the leading of the Holy Spirit to discern which is the right way to go. It has been a challenge for me, a planner to the core, to put my trust fully in God's plans and leading even when I am unable to see what's ahead and I am glad to say I have come out having learned a few things.      The main takeaway I would like to share is this: the right way is not the easiest way . That probably sounds very obvious if you have spent any time in church, but I never thought about that principle carrying over into walking out God's plans for my life. You see, there have been decisions that I have made over the last year that I was certain were what God was leading me to do. An...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Firm a Foundation

Matthew 7:24-27 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Luke 6:46-49 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against th...
Post a Comment
Read more