God gives each of us gifts to use to expand His kingdom. This daily devotional will look at the gifts that Paul discussed.
Nuggets
- God gives His children a variety of gifts so that His kingdom can be expanded.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
In the last devotion, we looked at the first part of Romans 12: 6. We started talking about gifts.
In this one, we are going to dig farther into the gifts that God gives us. Let’s go.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
A List of Gifts
“According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom. 12: 6-8 CSB)
God gives His children a variety of gifts so that His kingdom can be expanded.
What is the different gifts Paul described here?
- Prophecy
- Service
- Teaching
- Exhorting
- Giving
- Leading
- Merciful
Those are some really diverse terms, too, aren’t they? Plus, they are broad terms. That way we can each find ourselves within them.
Prophecy
Tyson noted that we would use the term preacher today instead of prophet. Storrs defined prophet as “… one who is the interpreter of another’s thought.”
Resource
Vaughan brought things into perspective for me. He wrote, “If we are to understand the trust of the heart towards God, then the passage will mean, that ‘if any man prophesy,’ or preach, he must do it ‘according to the spiritual experience which God has given him.’”
Resource
- What is the mission of all of us? To preach.
- What do we preach? The gospel.
- How do we preach it? Using the experiences God has put us through to grow us to be like Him.
We all have a story. It shows how God loves us and provides for us. We are to use them to witness to others.
Hey! We have some similarities again.
- “… If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith” (Rom. 12: 6 CSB)
- “… think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12: 3 KJV).
In a previous devotion, we said that the measure of our faith is the level of confidence in which we have both in Christ and in our ability to serve Him.
Proportion means everything is in its appropriate place and congruent with everything else. Haven’t we just been talking about this in the On Things Above series?
Devotions in the On Things Above series
God’s right place is our #1 priority. We get out of whack when we put this world before God.
But what does the congruent mean as a disciple?
Stanley answered that. He wrote, “It is not enough to ask what is right in itself, but what is right under the circumstances.”
Resource
We have to watch here, though. Right doesn’t mean what the world thinks right mean. Right means righteous. Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Doing something right is never going to lead to a sin. If the worldview people try to tell us that we have to tolerate sin in order to love them, that is not right.
- “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge” (I Tim. 6: 20 CSB)
- “The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so” (Rom. 8: 7 CSB).
We have to do things God’s way the right way. I read about things happening in society and think of the old saying: two wrongs don’t make a right. I also think about the ends do not justify the means.
We have to have faith in order to be a child of God’s. We can’t perform these gifts if we aren’t a member of God’s Church.
But Vaughan reminded us that there is a lot of room on the continuum from our justification to our perfection after sanctification. Justification is the easy part because it comes once upon ABCDing. Sanctification is the bumpy road.
The way I read verse 6 is God is going to give us hints about the future in accordance to what our faith and understanding is. He is not going to try to teach us something we do not have the faith and foundation to understand.
Service
These gifts come from God to be used in His service. Service is an act based on belief in God that comes from a response of worship by acknowledging His power through our submission.
I loved the title of Spurgeon’s sermon. It is Waiting on Our Ministering Needs Extra Grace.
Resource
We try to run ahead of God and get started in our ministry — while God is still preparing us for it. We want to do the right thing — but we are trying to do it the wrong way.
If we want to serve God — which we should — we should want to serve Him the way He wants us to serve. Oh, yeah. He is going to stretch our comfort zones. He is going to ask us to do some things that have us scratching our heads in wonder.
But God knows past, present, and future. He knows the perfected us. He knows our knowledge and abilities even better than we know ourselves.
Teaching and Exhorting
We know what teaching is. The Holman Bible Dictionary defined exhortation as giving advice and encouragement.
Resource
In a way, I was surprised that Chalmers combined teaching and encouraging. But then again, I am not.
There is a connection. I like it when Chalmers said, “The one expounds truth; the other applies it, and presses it home on the case and conscience of every individual.”
Resource
In my opinion, every disciple should be an encourager. A kind word, a listening ear, a you-can-do-it goes a long way to uplift a struggling disciple.
We can all do that. It shows God in us.
But then, teachers have to uplift and encourage their struggling students. We aren’t going to get everything on first read. Sometimes, we need Scriptures explained to us. Our teachers have to encourage us to keep working it out until God flips the understanding switch.
We talked before that, really, every one of us is a teacher. We teach without even realizing we are teaching. The whole What I Believe series was morphed from learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples. We were solidifying what we believe in order to be able to witness.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
When we witness, we are really teaching. This is especially true when we are witnessing to someone who has not grown up around believers. We may be talking a whole foreign language to them. (That is why I include so many definitions in my devotions.)
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Giving
I think, a lot of times, we feel God is asking for this elaborate objective. I don’t think He is. He just wants us to put Him first.
Look at verse 8. I think the King James Version says it best. “… he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity …” (Rom. 12: 8 KJV).
Don’t try to blow it up to this hard task. Don’t overthink it.
Just do it.
God wants disciples to be givers. Yes, it may be money. He also wants our time. He wants our talents. He wants our passions and concerns.
He wants all of us. He wants us to do whatever He calls us to do.
Leading
We shouldn’t have ulterior motives or a hidden agenda when we are leaders. We shouldn’t be expecting a specific payoff.
In fact, we shouldn’t be expecting anything. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Lk. 6: 35 ESV).
Mould talked to those who are in a position of authority. He cautioned them to never let things just work out for themselves. Leadership takes planning and action.
Resource
Take Loki, for example, in Thor: Ragnarok. He disguised himself as Odin and took over ruling Asgard. But he let a lot of things slide. So, when Thor shows up, he says that the Nine Realms are in chaos.
Things don’t just work out for themselves. Satan is the master of chaos.
We have to be diligent in caring for our relationships with God.
Merciful
The last admonition Paul has for us is to be merciful but cheerfully. Disciples’ mercy is a characteristic of compassion for the needs of others, especially those who are in distress.
What just popped into my head was that worldview people think they are merciful — sometimes even more so than disciples. They can have compassion for others.
The problem is they are not performing the acts to glorify God or to expand His kingdom. That is why disciples are to be merciful. We are to show others that God loves us.
Making the Connections
We have to be really careful when we run into a distortion of God’s truth. We have to know our do’s and don’ts to make sure we keep on the narrow path.
Glossary
Satan wants us to think one of God’s laws and commandments cancels out another. That isn’t what God says. Look what God told Joshua — and is telling us.
“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Josh. 1: 7-8 ESV emphasis added).
God said do all. Not pick and choose. Not place one law above the other.
God said to obey all the laws.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t be the one who’s only contribution is criticism. Serve God.
- Align our words and actions to God’s Word.
- Value the gifts that God gives us.
- If we are put in any position of responsibility, we need to diligently perform our responsibilities.
- Show mercy to all with whom we come into contact.
- Study all of Scripture, not just our favorite passages — or just the easy ones.
- Make it a habit to be merciful.
- Make it a habit to be cheerful, especially around those in need of cheer.
Resource
No one possesses all of the gifts. For that reason, we have to work together to accomplish God’s mission.
We have to always keep true to the tenets of our faith. Mankind disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. God sent His perfect Son to die to pay the penalty for those sins so that we could be restored to a relationship with God. We are to obey God’s laws and commandments to show our commitment to Him.
Father God. Thank You for the gifts that You have given us. May we confidently use them to expand Your kingdom. Amen.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think?
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