ALL ARE GIFTED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

1 Corinthians 7:7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

You are gifted.

Everyone is so no one can say otherwise.

As we look at this single verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we find him sharing the truth about giftedness to the believers in Corinth.

I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Paul’s point was simple.

Not everyone was going to be an apostle of his magnitude or even an apostle at all. Each Corinthian Christian had their own gift from God and one person would have gifts different from the other. We’ll see this expounded on later when we get to the twelfth chapter of this letter but for now the key point is that everyone is gifted. God has given everyone a gift.

So if everyone is gifted by God, then why does it seem the church is always struggling for people to help do things to support the mission?

Because not everyone has sought to discover the gifts God has given. Or maybe they have realized their gifts and have decided not to put them to use. Jesus addressed this latter problem in His Parable of the Talents as He wrote:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.  And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.

But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.

After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”

“He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’”

“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.’”

“‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 25:14-30

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t ever want to be the third servant in this parable, the one who had been given a gift but buried it, not giving his lord a return on his investment.

And so the question is this:

Are you willing to allow God to activate the gift He has blessed you with or show you the way to use the gift you have already recognized so that His purposes might be fulfilled?

Note here that I said so His purposes might be fulfilled. For while all of us have been given gifts by God, those gifts haven’t been granted so that we might glorify ourselves. Rather, God has given them so He might receive the honor through the way use those gifts to fulfill His will and way.

God wants much of His work to be done through His people and He has instilled gifts in everyone to make that happen. It’s up to us to seek awareness of the gifts we’ve been given and then commit ourselves to use those gifts to carry out God’s kingdom work here on earth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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