Friday, August 26, 2011

Using Your Giftedness

Romans 12:3-6 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

The Body of Christ can be a beautiful testimony of what Christianity has to offer. However, it also has the potential to keep people from ever turning to Christ. If someone sees the Church not functioning in unity and harmony, they begin to call Christians hypocrites and begin to discredit the gospel message in its entirety. Romans 12:3-6 gives us instruction as to how to serve within the Body.

The first step is to have an appropriate view of ourselves. We are not to think of each other more highly than we ought, but instead to think of yourself with a sound mind. I cannot help but thinking of those poor fools on American Idol who go up to the judges with pride covering their faces. They talk the talk, and wear the starlet outfit. And then they open their mouths to sing. I sit there thinking, "did no one love them enough to tell them that they were TERRIBLE?" Then, when the judges tell them that it was the worst audition that they have ever heard, the pseudo-singer doesn't believe it. They have not thought of themselves with sober judgement and therefore their attitude of themselves is to high. Their pride makes them not coachable and not useful for any good purpose. We have these same personalities in our churches. Those who are confident that they are the best at one certain area of ministry or another. Paul tells us to instead of getting caught up with thinking too highly of ourselves, we are to be sensible in how we view ourselves which comes from our faith.

The second step is to find your function and serve faithfully. Paul tells us that we are all members of one body and that we all do not have the same function. By having a sound judgment of ourselves, we are better able to serve as the member that God has called us to be with the giftedness He has given us. If we think too highly of ourselves, our role in the Body will seem insignificant or not good enough. We will vie for another position. We will try to manipulate and politicize to be in an area of service that might not be within our giftedness, simply because we see it as more desirable. However, God gives us spiritual gifts for the reason of building up the Body of Christ and for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). We are therefore not competing against each other. Rather, we are serving one another as we serve Christ.

First Corinthians 12:24 states, "But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."


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