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.

Kindle Afresh the GIft

 Kindle Afresh the Gift

January 14, 2025

2 Timothy 1:6-7

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 usa spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

I was trying to light the fire this morning in our wood stove, and this verse came to mind. For whatever reason, the fire didn’t want to go this morning. It would flare up in the kindling and then die down, so I had to kindle it afresh and relight it. Sometimes our spiritual lives are like that. Let us look at the list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12 and think about any that we need to kindle afresh.

Romans 12:6-13

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives,with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devotedto prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

First we are exhorted to “exercise them accordingly”. A gift is only useful when it is used, and it gets stronger when it is exercised. So which of these gifts have you been given, and which need to be rekindled and then exercised? When the fire starts to die down, you have to poke it and stir it up to get it hot again. Consider this my poking of you to stir your gifts up! Sometimes (always!) we need one another to stir us up and rekindle the passion for the things of the Spirit. Paul goes on to say that we need to love one another and to “be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” That’s another thing I observed this morning in lighting the fire. I had some kindling going and added a large log, but it wouldn’t catch fire. But when I added a second log, the heat from one reflected to the other and caused both of them to catch fire. That is what fellowship does for us. A little fire in one will stir up another and soon we are both aflame in fervor to serve the Lord.

Take some time to pray about your spiritual gifts. Do you know which ones you have? Are there others that you can ask for? Do you see a need around you that you could meet if you exercised your spiritual gifts? You shouldn’t have to look too far to find someone that is need of healing, or encouragement. Find someone you can serve or teach and give with liberality. Growing up in the Methodist Church, we were taught to use our time, talents and treasure in the service to the Lord. So consider what gifts you have been given and stir up and kindle afresh your desire to use them to show love to one another.