I admit with sadness that over the years, I have heard countless
“mature” Christians say that they have no idea what their gift is. Imagine
this: you wake up on Christmas morning, bypass gifts underneath the tree, eat
breakfast, go for a walk and watch a football game. The next day you go to work
and leave the presents untouched under the tree. Same the next day and the
next. Years later, someone asks what you got for Christmas, and you can’t say
because you never opened your present. That would be sad if we were talking
about Santa; we’re talking about God’s gift to you. How sad is that?
I have two reasons to say with confidence that my gift is
teaching. Years ago, I was praying and fasting at a time in my life when I had
no clear direction for God’s will for me. I was alone in prayer on the second
day of my fast asking for guidance when I heard a voice – I don’t know if you
would have heard anything; the voice of God in the Bible was often mistaken for
thunder – but I swear I heard a voice say, “You are a teacher.” That was
dramatic, but not particularly helpful at that moment. I had a teaching degree,
and I was attending Bible college at the time, but I was working the night
shift at 7-Eleven to support my wife and new baby daughter. There were so many
newly minted teachers at that time that finding a job was nearly impossible.
Eventually, I found a job teaching in a Christian school,
and over the next decade or so, I earned two graduate degrees in
education-related fields. I thought I wanted a doctorate in education so that I
could teach teachers. For several years, I taught; I worked in administration;
then I burned out. I took what I thought was going to be a short sabbatical
that ended up lasting twelve years. Driving a truck cross-country of all
things. I compared my life to Moses’ years in the desert on the back side of
Midian tending sheep. Paul recounts being taught by Jesus Himself for three
years in the Arabian desert (possibly not far from Moses’ plot). But just as
Moses and Paul learned invaluable lessons in their deserts, I learned many
things in my solitary hours behind the wheel praying, meditating, and listening
to Christian radio messages and music. Perhaps most important, I learned
patience because you won’t last long in OTR trucking without it.
I said I have two reasons to believe I am called and gifted
as a teacher. The Voice was the first; the second is that over the years, the
church has confirmed that God gives me things to say, and He empowers me to say
them for the benefit of His Body. This is all good, but as I wrote in my
last post, I’m not sure what I am accomplishing at this season of my life.
I may have to wait for that to be revealed when I am on the New Earth with the
New Heaven as my eternal home. I will say this much with full confidence: my
lesson today is that if you belong to Jesus Christ, you have a gift. More than
that, if you don’t know what your gift is, I pity you and the Body you serve
because they are missing out on what God has given you for their benefit.
If you do know what your spiritual gift is, I challenge you
to make sure you are using it to the best of your ability. In his Corinthian
letter, Paul likened the various gifts to different parts of the human body.
Imagine, he says, a body with missing parts. A body without legs is crippled. A
body without eyes is blind. A body without ears is deaf. A body lacking any of
its necessary parts is unable to function properly. Whatever part God has
designed you to play, you must play it, or His work in the Body will be
hindered. Pledge now that you will strive to be a helper and not a hinderance.
Jesus’ Body needs you.
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