Made to Serve

Do you realize that God has given you talents and gifts? 
Yes, you! 
He designed you with a plan and a purpose and equipped you with your own special set of gifts and talents.

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 4:10-11

So we can see, each one of us has been given gifts and talents. We are to use those gifts in serving with the strength of God so that all things may be glorified through Jesus.

Not only are we to use our gifts, but we are to come together and use them. God’s design is so beautiful and His purpose for making us all so different is so our gifts can complement each other when we work together to further His kingdom. 

Let’s look at Romans 12:4-8,
“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

We are many members, but one body. We all work together with the common goal of seeking the Lord and putting Him first. Your specific gifts and talents are needed. You have a purpose given to you by your Heavenly Father, and when you step into that calling alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ, then you are truly operating within the body as God intended us to.

Using our gifts to serve alongside one another also benefits us. It makes us stronger in our faith, it strengthens our bond with other believers; which combats isolation and loneliness. 

God is not calling you to serve as a punishment, He is calling you to serve because He knows the benefits you receive from being an active member of the body. He knows how strong your faith in Him will grow when you allow Him to work through you. He knows you will no longer feel isolated or worthless. When you use the gifts and talents you have been given, you will be able to see yourself the way our Father sees you, you will actively see the Gospel on display as He takes a broken person, makes them new, fills them with the Holy Spirit and equips them to do greater works (John 14:12).

Even if you do not feel qualified or like you can be used, He has a purpose for each of us. He has called you to use what you have and He will qualify you for the job. We have all heard the saying, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” This is so true. All throughout the Bible we see where God chooses the least likely to succeed, the person everyone else may have counted out, He does not look at what we look at, He looks at the heart.
 
“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” - 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

If you haven’t realized this already, God does the opposite of what the world does. So if you’re aiming to look qualified or to line up with what the world says makes you “qualified” take heart; you can rest in the Lord knowing He created you exactly as you are for such a time as this. If you allow Him, He will lead you to the places where your gifts can be used and you can thrive as an active member of the body of Christ. 

So I urge you to seek the Lord, knowing He has given you good gifts and He equips you to use them!