"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:9-11).
When we accept Jesus as Savior, God makes us part of a body. We are part the body of believers. We are part of the Body of Jesus Christ. He puts us in a community relationship with all believers, and we share a common life in Christ. We are meant to be active participants. He has assigned each one of us a function in the Body. There are no exceptions.
There is a Kingdom principle few people really understand. The principle is this: When you focus on serving others, your own need is often met through God's supernatural law of serving.
This has happened many times. The law of sowing and reaping comes into play in this Kingdom principle. "Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you." (Hosea 10:12). "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:6-9).
Whenever God calls us to serve another person with our time and resources God measures resources back to us from unrelated sources. Sometimes it comes through an unexpected blessing or a new opportunity. It is in God’s plan for us to be amazed at how this happens consistently when we serve others. God gets the glory. We are never to view people or organizations as competition. They are opportunities God is giving us to serve them and glorify HIM. The Bible says that God has already assigned our portion. All gifts are given by God’s grace. We do not need to influence the result of accepting and using God’s gifts. Even though the gifts are given by God’s grace, we are still responsible to develop and exercise them. God will take care of the results. No gift is exercised apart from faith in Christ. Truly, without Christ, we can do nothing.
"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6).
We are accustomed to thinking of fellowship as Christian social activity or the sharing of spiritual truths. But the fellowship of our spiritual gifts is the using of them for the benefit of the rest of the Body and the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.
We don't serve others to get. However, when we do serve others, there is a Kingdom rule that works on our behalf as fruit of our service. Is there someone we are being called to serve right now? Love must fill and direct every aspect of our lives. Love is not to be exercised only in the use of our gifts and in the performance of our various Christian duties. Love is to be exercised in the home, or at the office, or in the classroom, where our gifts are not a particular consideration. Love is to be exercised all the time in the most unexciting duties of life, not just when we are engaged in Christian work. On the other hand, the absence of love in the ordinary duties and relationships of life can weaken and destroy the effective use of our gifts.
Love must reign supreme in our hearts, or our gifts will be nothing more than a clanging gong or resounding cymbal as Paul put it.
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7 years ago
