Romans 12:3-8

                                                                 Romans 12:3-8

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 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: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

How are our spiritual gifts to be used?  This is an important question for Christians to answer as we seek to serve him.  The gifts we have come from God, and they are to be used for His glory and the building up of the body of Christ.  If our bodies are truly presented in surrender to God and our minds our renewed, the use of our giftings should readily be used according to these standards.

 

IN A SPIRIT OF HUMILITY: Pride is one of the most subtle and consistent sins with which we struggle.  We just naturally focus on ourselves and how we can improve our own lot in life.  We live under the delusion that we will find happiness from self-promotion.  The truth is that we were made for God’s glory and the only way to find true joy and satisfaction in life is in loving, serving, and worshiping Him.  To that end, God equips us with gifts.  These gifts are not to bring attention to ourselves but are to bring glory to Him.  It is easy for us to fall in the trap of pride that only leads to misery.  The path to true joy lies in humbly using the gifts God gives us to serve others and worship God.

 

BECAUSE OF UNITY: The body is the image most used to illustrate the church.  A body has many different parts that are distinct from one another and yet are united together.  Each part cooperates with the other and functions so the entire body is benefited.  As believers we are to work with one another to promote our common goals.  We may have vastly different functions but our goal of bringing glory to our Lord and our desire to see His kingdom grow unites us.  At times it is hard for us to see or understand the importance of what other people are doing.  Perhaps we have a hard time recognizing our own function in the body of Christ.  God calls us to faithfully work together so it is important that we be faithful to do our part and to appreciate those who are serving around us in their diverse functions.  

 

ACCORDING TO ABILITY: Paul lists several different gifts and instructs us to exercise them in accordance with our different abilities.  Each gift has a function, and each person has a responsibility.  We are called to use those gifts with excellence.  There are two different extremes that we must avoid when exercising our gifts.  One is the extreme of pride where we think of our gift as the most important.  The other is the extreme of discouragement where we think of our gift as being unimportant.  Neither of these is pleasing to the Lord.  Thankfulness and faithfulness should be the qualities that mark our thinking about giftedness.

 

APPLICATION: Guard our heart from pride by recognizing the gifts of others and encouraging them in their use of those gifts.  Work with others in advancing the kingdom of God and learn to appreciate the diversity. Strive to do all we do with excellence and don’t become discouraged by thinking our gifts don’t matter.

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