Gifts and Calling

 Gifts and Calling

June 20, 2025

2 Timothy 1:5-7

5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in youas well. 6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Following the Lord is a great adventure. It is a privilege to see the Lord to work in peoples lives.  It it important to remember that any ability that you have to help people is because of the gift of God that He has put into your life. It is always sad to see a very talented person, be it minister or athlete, who does great things and then takes personal credit for it. It is a gift. Always remember that it is a gift. You can minister with power, love and discipline, but it is not you alone, but it is a gift.

If you want to be like Timothy and minister in power, it is important to first recognize what gifts and talents you have been given. When I was a young Christian, the church emphasized pastors and tried to make everyone a pastor. I studies and worked, but didn’t have any success until I realized that my gift and calling is not to be a pastor, but to be a teacher. You have to operate out of your gift to be successful. Everyone is responsible for their own salvation and for their own gifts. You can’t operate on someone else’s faith or in someone else’s gift. Seek the Lord for your particular gift and operate out of the specific calling on your life and the Lord will be able to use you to do great things.

Another error that young Christians sometime make is to assume that the Lord wants them to do something hard like being a missionary in deepest darkest Africa.  Now the Lord May call you to do that,  but if He does he will give you a desire to do that and the gifts to be successful at it. Your gifts typically Involve something that you enjoy. When you operate out of your gifting, it is not like work, it is a joy. In my case, I am gifted in music and worship. It is not burdensome to practice and play, even though it does take extra effort to attend band practice, but it is a joy to be able to play and worship with the band. When you operate in your gifting, it is a joy and an act or worship. So don’t  be afraid to ask the Lord for a specific calling. He will call you and give you the desire, gifts and talents to perform it with joy.