I wanted to share what the Holy Spirit spoke through our pastor, Matt, yesterday.  We are all gifted with a gift from the Holy Spirit, but are we truly usually it to serve Him and give Him glory?

Good food for thought….

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10

 In yesterday’s sermon we discussed the importance of putting what we have to use. Peter challenges the scattered believers to think about their gifts less in terms of themselves and more in regards to their fellow believers. Ask yourself, “How do I use my unique talents and abilities to benefit my church body?”

 God gives a variety of gifts to His people, and I briefly mentioned the significance of the word, “varied,” in 1 Peter 4:10. Peter says that our Spirit-given talents and abilities are portions “of God’s varied grace.” We are simply “stewards” or managers of what He rightly owns.

 If the gifts that God gives are a beautiful variety, then we ought to be willing to accept a number of different ways of doing things in the church. One person may work with children one way in AWANA, while another may have a completely different approach to the kids. One person may sing really loudly on Sunday mornings, while another may worship in stillness.

 These are evidences of variety in the body of Christ. Like Joseph’s coat, our gifts are “many-colored.” And therefore, they will manifest themselves in a number of different ways in the church. You may need to be willing to step back and see the beauty of this diversity when you are tempted to think that someone else’s way of putting their gifts to use isn’t good because it’s not how you like to do things.

 Consider that the Lord takes delight in diversity. Indeed, we will worship in eternity with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation! And the various gifts that God has given to all different peoples within their own cultures will be a glorious display for all time. We have the opportunity to get a glimpse of that right now as we encourage one another to put our gifts to use in all kinds of different ways.

Use Scripture as your guide to determine if a method is wrong. Don’t rely on your personal preference. Instead, take joy in the many gifts of God’s varied grace.

These are not my words, but Matt’s devotional he sent via email this morning.

May we all use our gifts to glorify Him?