Different Gifts

But we have gifts that differ and which are meant to be used according to the grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, use it to the extent of your trust; if it is serving, use it to serve; if you are a teacher, use your gift in teaching; if you are a counselor, use your gift to comfort and exhort; if you are someone who gives, do it simply and generously; if you are in a position of leadership, lead with diligence and zeal; if you are one who does acts of mercy, do them cheerfully.
Romans 12:6–8, Complete Jewish Bible

I love this passage. I want to post it on the wall where I will see it every day. I want to engrave these words into my mind so that they inform every minute of my life. I want to make these words my personal mantra and mission statement. There is so much that we can learn from Paul’s admonition here that I don’t grow tired of reading it over again. These words set the stage for the remainder of the letter to the Romans. There are two major lessons to take away from this passage.

First, the Christian life is experiential. It’s not theology or hermeneutics or exegesis. All of those things have their places in our spiritual development, to be sure. But they are the means, not the ends, of Christian growth. Living the life that Jesus wills for us — the abundant life of John 10:10 — comes from exercising the gifts that God has bestowed on us. You can’t be a Christian and do nothing. You can’t be the light and hide under a bushel basket. You have to be active, working in the church and in the community, sharing your gifts.

“But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves,” says James. Not acting, not exercising our gifts, not doing what we’ve learned from the Savior, is the same thing as forgetting who we are. We belong to him, and are his tools for accomplishing his purposes. A tool that no longer does what it was designed to do is useless. So are hearers that refuse to be doers.

Second, we all have different things to do. It’s a mistake to assume that everyone is the same, to attempt to shoehorn every brother and sister into the same role. That’s not how the church works. We are not called to uniformity, but unity. We are to be like-minded with Christ, but not cookie-cutter Christians. God has specifically given his children “gifts that differ”. He wants each one of us to step up and use our various gifts to his glory.

Some seem to want the church to be like an old, faded painting; while it’s possible to identify colors, they are washed out and sometimes altogether lost in the overall patina that has dulled the work over time. These folks don’t like it when a fresh coat of paint comes along in a brother or sister who is vibrant and brilliant and filled with a desire to use their gifts for God. In an effort to maintain a comfortable respectability, they quench the Spirit and homogenize and sanitize until the whole congregation begins to look the same again. Such a church is not the one that God calls with all these disparate blessings.

As I read Paul’s words to the Romans, I am challenged to demonstrate just how much grace God poured out on me by using my gifts to that same extent. Perhaps, Christians who shy away from using their God-given abilities for his glory aren’t confident in his grace. That’s a sad thought. If we’ve come to know how deeply God loves us and how much he desires us, then using our gifts for him and the church should be the least that we feel we can do to demonstrate our gratitude. It’s where we can start becoming that fellowship sacrifice; “living, holy, and pleasing to God”.