Your Abilities

Being created in God's image carries some mysterious and sometimes unexplainable traits which send us into varied areas and priorities. Some have suggested since we are the children of our Heavenly Father it seems natural that we would inherit  some of his good qualities.  Just as you inherited the eyes of your dad's side of the family or maybe your hair color from your mom's side of the family, I am suggesting in the same way there are spiritual motivations that are instilled deep inside each of us and  are identifying marks that we belong to God.

The scripture calls these "gifts" or "abilities," and there are some that are brought out in the way we conduct ourselves in doing the things of God.  You might think of them in terms of your "talents"  but whichever term you may choose, the important part is that each of us has one or more of these traits at work inside us.

A very important thing for us to learn is the training and strengthening of whatever our gift might be. While you can read about the individual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 & 14, also Ephesians 4, the real need for us is to understand how our talents work in conjunction with the talents of other Christians. Not only is God praised by our use of the talent he gave us, but he is also glorified through the end result of cooperative talents building up the body of Christ.  We should all spend some time in prayer and in scripture to determine our gifts, and to seek God's blessings in the use and development of the gifts. 

Look at how this worked in the life of Moses. God had told him to go and deliver a message to Pharaoh, and Moses was reluctant. (Sound Familiar?  It gets much more familiar.)  Moses pleaded with God telling him , "I wouldn't know what to say.  I would stand there and stutter. I am not your man."  God reminded Moses that it is by God's power that man can speak and hear and function. He continues to assure Moses that he will be with him in this task, and he will be telling Moses what to say.  So here is a rule for you to remember in regards to spiritual gifts:  God will never ask you to do something without also supplying the resources and the ability for you to do it.

 

There are times in the work and ministry of the church that some will complain they are not as talented as someone else.  Looking at the descriptions of the gifts and their function in the church, Paul tells us that each of us is equally important. He likens it to a physical body and reasons with illustrative language that all parts of the body do not have the same function.  The eyes see, but the foot should not be jealous because it cannot see like an eye. The foot should note how important it is because of its own function. Just as the foot cannot see, neither can the eye walk.  The next rule for us is this: Your gift or talent is as important to the body of Christ as the gift that is given to any preacher, music leader or church janitor.  If you are not functioning in your area of talent, the whole body of Christ suffers. 

We will look for more of these rules later, in the hope of strengthening our abilities to grow spiritually. Consider the two from this message today. Pray that God will be with you in their use, and their benefit to the body of Christ.   

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