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Using Our Talents
Using Our Talents
Terri A. McMurray
Rom 12:4-6 For as in 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: 1Co 12:14-18 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
YOU are part of this body, and a body functions best as a whole. If my right arm is broken, the left gets stronger because it’s the only arm capable of lifting. If my head is aching, my eyes close to shield me from further pain. If my toe is broken, I bind it to the one alongside it so that I can continue to walk. Just as the parts of a physical body compensate for a part in need of healing, so should the body of Christ with the members of its body in need of healing or strengthening. If my brother is broken, physically or spiritually, I need to stick to him like glue until he can stand on his own.
1Pe 4:10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. Do you feel you aren’t part of the body? Do you feel you have no gift to use, nothing to offer others? You may be the part in need of healing right now, but that does not lessen your function. The importance of your presence is not something to be ignored. You may be teaching others how to serve, by allowing them to help you heal. 1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Gal 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Serve, encourage, build, and bear are all things that require action. Each has received a gift, but am I using mine? Ask yourself, “How can I use this to encourage someone else? How can I use this to build someone up? How can I use this to serve someone else? Will this help someone else bear their burdens a little easier?
Rom 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Your gift may be an astounding ability to love and show honor. 1Jn 3:18 … let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Love also requires action. I may have need of your gift, your part of the body today. I may have need of your encouragement; I may have need of your strength, your compassion today. I may have the need to focus on you today, so that I don't focus on my own struggles and succumb. I may have the need to be bound to you today, so that I may continue down the straight and narrow.
Heb 10:24-5 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. When you choose not to meet with me and our body, you choose not to use your gift. Our body is meant to be whole. We may not know what the appendix is for, but I promise you God does, and he put it there for a reason.
Ecc 4:12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I may be worn down alone, but if you will stand with me we can “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” That may be your gift, something as simple and needful as standing next to me with a watchful eye. Don’t neglect it.
