“Grace was given to each one of us” (Eph. 4:7)
“He gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8)
Every Christian has a spiritual gift - a talent, intuition, or ability given to them by God in order to serve His church. There is no such thing as the spiritual gift of sitting. Pick a different one.
God has given you skills and abilities for a reason. And He didn’t just give you those gifts to use at your workplace; or your school; or at your house; or in your professional life; or to use with your friends. He gave that gifting to you to serve Him.
Don’t get me wrong – if God has blessed you in leadership I hope you can use that at work. If He has blessed you with a friendly, hospitable personality I hope you can use that with your friends. If He’s blessed you with a natural inclination to working with children, or organizational skills, or technical skills, or musical abilities, or a heart of empathy, or a creative mind I hope you can use that in many ways.
Make sure you use it in a way that benefits the HEAD, and the BODY – not just your workplace, or school, or social life. Use your gifting in all these environments to share the gospel and make disciples.
So what is your gifting? What do you love doing to serve Christ, the head of this body? What comes most natural to you? Where do you serve that energizes you rather than sucking your energy?
When we do not use our gifts to make disciples and build the church, disease can set in to our church body. Ephesians 4 lists two diseases that result from you not using your gift(s):
- Body Failure. There are various ways a body part can fail – kidney failure, respiratory failure, heart failure, liver failure… This is when a body part refuses to recognize its place in the body and does not do what it was designed to do. If the lung fails to work, it dies. Then the body suffers and the other lung works overtime. And worst of all, the head is not fully glorified and able to accomplish its full purpose.
- Atrophy. This is when a member is unified with the rest of the body, it knows it’s purpose in the body and is able to perform its purpose, yet it just sits idle. This is when a member of the body just… DOES NOTHING. First comes muscle loss - the member begins to shrink. Then comes skeletal loss, when it becomes disconnected from the rest of the body. Then other body parts begin to break down. What a waste for a church to suffer because member are in atrophy!