Today's Devotional Thought
May 24, 2010 by Rachel Piferi
Using Your Gifts
How well are you using the gifts that God has given you? And, are you using all of your gifts?
So often when we talk about the gifts that God has given us, we think about our talents and skills. We talk about being a gifted writer or singer or speaker. And, we so often talk about these skills as gifts from God that we can use to make an impact for Him.
Today, I want you to think about all of the gifts that God has given you. And by all of the gifts, I mean everything about you that can be used for Him: your talents and skills, your personality, your background, your life experiences, your tragedies and triumphs, your marriage, and your friendships. All of these things make you unique and all of these things can be used to make a great impact for Him. And, these opportunities to use our backgrounds, personalities, and relationships can be seen as gifts from God to make a difference for Him that only we can make.
In Philippians 1, Paul writes, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel??? (v. 12). In this letter, he is describing how his imprisonments and experiences can be used for good and used to show others about Jesus Christ. Paul used his experiences and situations to share about Jesus Christ and each time he was amazed at how God could work in horrible situations.
Each one of us has a unique set of skills, personality, life experiences, and relationships that make us special. And, we need to see each one of these domains as opportunities for us to be used by God. And the best part is that we don’t need to worry about what our talents, personalities, life experiences or relationships actually are, because they can all uniquely be used by God to make an impact on others. You just may have the perfect background to help someone with a trial they are experiencing or you may just have the perfect personality to connect to someone who is struggling and needs to hear about Jesus. Regardless of your uniqueness, it has a place in God’s kingdom and there is work for you to do with it.
Today, I pray that you can start looking at your entire person and your entire life as a gift from God to be used to impact others. In addition to your talents and skills, God can use your experiences in work, life, and relationships to make a difference in someone else today. Use all of your gifts today and make the impact that you were uniquely designed to make.
December