A Living SacrificeSample

"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." (Romans 12:6-8 ESV)

In our former selfish, self-serving life, we learned to assess our strengths and weaknesses. We were applauded for our talents and strengths, and we learned to be ashamed of our weaknesses. We learned that we should play to our strengths and talents to become successful in life. And of course, our goal was to win. Win a scholarship, win the best job, win the best-looking spouse, win the biggest house, win the admiration of society, win the privileged life. You have to admit that the world trains us in this way.

But the Holy Spirit, our new life coach, is trying to re-train our brains and our expectations and help us to quit relying on those things which we think we are strong in, not that He won’t eventually use those, but we’ve got to quit making it about us. And the surprise is that He has some gifts he wants to give us. Yes, they are called spiritual gifts. Whereas our talents tend to glorify ourselves, the spiritual gifts glorify God. Romans 12 lists a few of these: Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Exhortation (or Encouragement), Generosity, Leadership, Mercy. These don’t sound like marketable skills to go make a lot of money, do they? These are sacrificial gifts that are powerful in building up the body of Christ and living according to God’s will.

Once you have discovered one of your spiritual gifts and have used it in His service, I assure you that there is no greater satisfaction. You feel God’s pleasure as you serve others with the gifts He’s given you. It’s better than winning, because it’s about God and about others and about love. You can learn more about the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, and Ephesians 4.