O my goodness, Father, this is a morning of tangents! I close my eyes and my brain zings this way then that way. Help me to focus on what You have for me this day.
1 Peter 4:10-11 (<<click here)
Lord, all of us are gifted in some way or another. You made us and blessed us with a unique blend of abilities. Some we realize early on – others we may discover as we go along the course of our lives.
It is easy to let the application of this passage fall strictly into church oriented mentalities. Without a doubt we should use our God-given gifts and abilities in ministry but we obviously must realize that it goes way beyond the four walls of the church.
Lord, I guess my struggle mentally here is that all my life it seems the importance of discovering my “gifts” and applying them has all focused on how I would use them in the Church to build up the body of which You are the Head. Peter himself proclaims that we are to “use them well to serve one another.” But as I have matured (and it still feels like I have a long way to go) I realize that, yes, I must use what I have been given to lift up the church, but I must also use what I have been given to lift up all of humanity to You.
Peter emphasizes with great clarity that we are to share what we have as though You are working through us, using Your strength and energy to do so. In doing so we will discover then that “everything [we] do will bring glory to God through [You].”
It is narrow minded to think that I must use my gifts only with the confines of the church. I have a responsibility to touch the lives of everyone with whom I come in contact. I am a social being and I interact with many, many people every day. If I “have the gift of speaking” then I must “speak as though God himself is speaking through” me.
Lord, help me more and more to think outside the walls of the church. You expect me to use my talents to touch as many people as possible for Your glory. Amen – so be it
Feb 7th, Tues, 6:27 am
