I come from a family of
really talented people…I mean, SUPER talented. The kind of God-given talent that makes people say, “WOW!
That’s so cool.” And careers and
livelihoods have been built on that talent. And while I have watched in awe and pride at their gifts,
I’ve often been asked by others, “Can you? Do you too?” And, I have to say, “NOPE.”
And it wouldn’t be truthful to say that it
didn’t bother me at all. When it
seems like everyone has a special talent or gift, it can be lonely until you
find the gift that is for you.
For far too long I was stuck waiting for God to
reveal the mysterious special gift he had for me. I knew that Ephesians 2:10 proclaimed that I was His
workmanship, created in Jesus specifically for these good works that God had prepared in advance for me to walk in. But I wasn’t sure what those
gifts were or when they were coming and so, I did nothing. I felt like whatever gift I was going
to get was going to be HUGE and I wanted to be ready…so I just waited and
waited and while I was waiting, I noticed that person’s gift, and that person’s
gift, and it seemed like everyone had some special gift except for me.
And I’ve been to churches where they encourage
you to pray and ask God for specific gifts and/or reveal what His gift to me
was because clearly I didn’t have this gift yet or I’d be using it, right? Clearly, it was still on its way…and
so, I continued to wait.
And I got discouraged. I felt kinda useless and kind of jealous of all the other
people who were using their special gifts. And then finally, one Sunday morning in a women’s bible
study, we were discussing “Doing God’s Will” and being willing and available
for the work that He has for us…and this woman raised her hand and asked the
teacher, “Well, How do you really know what God wants you to do?” And my heart
skipped a beat because that was exactly what I wanted to know too! I was thankful that she’d asked because
I didn’t want to ask such a dumb question! Especially since I was under the
impression that everyone (except me) already knew the answer to this…
The teacher gave an answer that resonated so
well with my soul…she said, “God has already told you what He wants you to do.
In His Word, he’s given us very specific instructions to Love and Serve, Be
Light, refrain from ungodly
behavior … And if we can just focus on what we know He’s already told us, we
will be better positioned to hear what else He wants to tell us: Go, Do….”
And so, instead of sulking and waiting on some
specially wrapped gift from above, God opened my eyes to see the gifts that
were right in front of me.
Colossians 2:9 “For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality
and power.” I am complete in
Him. Not tomorrow. Not whenever I
receive some special gift, but now.
So, I changed my focus from worrying about the gifts that others had and
stopped trying to compare and just started working on how well I was doing what
I know to do, and lo and behold opportunities came that allowed me to serve and
in serving it became clear that God had made me especially for serving in these
particular ways and I realized I wasn’t waiting anymore…
Are you still waiting to know what God has
called you to do? Stop waiting and
just start serving. I’m willing to
bet there are gifts in you waiting to be used.
