Part 3: Just Jump In!
Living Beyond Myself... Part 3: Just Jump In!
Growing up in Connecticut, I had a place in my town called "Lovers Leap". It was a cliff that overlooked a lake and one afternoon my friends and I climbed the cliff and were all going to jump off into the lake. Now, how many of you have been in situations like this? You feel anxious, uncertain and all the while, your friends are there yelling, "Jump! Just Jump!" So, as the last of my group to make the jump, I plunged into the water and to my surprise, I didn't drown! In fact, it was kind of cool! So we all climbed back up and jumped again. I would have never known how much fun it was unless I had jumped in the first time.
The Bible speaks of this kind of experimentation. In Psalm 34:8, it simply says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."
When it comes to living beyond myself, servanthood, expressing your priestly gifts, we all ask the question, "Where is a good place for me to start? Where is a good place to jump in?" These are important questions, but once answered it really comes down to just jumping in!
It's one thing to accept the fact that God has called you to serve and live beyond yourself. But it is another thing, to step out with your knees knocking and your stomach in knots and actually leap into a service that is not in your comfort zone but is what God has called you to do!
In order to find the right place to jump in, we each must understand about who God made us to be and about the spiritual gifts that God has given us.
The definition of spiritual gifts is a special, supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together they can advance his purposes in the world.
Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Each of us must offer yourself, or jump in and it is in this action that you are able to find out what God's will is for you.
Romans 12:3
"For by the grace given me, I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
This teaches us that we must evaluate ourselves. It mentions, "Use sober judgment" so that we are exercising our strongest spiritual gifts! This helps us stay within God's design rather than trying to be something that we are not. Therefore we should be reminded that one gift is not better than the other, they are all equally important.
Paul gives us some examples of spiritual gifts in Romans 12: 6-8.
Gift #1: "If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith." The gift of prophesy refers to providing guidance to other people by bring God's truth into their circumstances. Often time this guidance challenges others towards change in action to a new direction with their life.
Gift #2: "If it is serving, let him serve;"
These people typically love doing behind-the-scenes kind of work with their hands. This type of work supports ministry projects and they don't mind not being in the spot light!
Gift #3: "If it is teaching, let him teach"
The supernatural gift of teaching is the ability to understand and clearly explain and apply truths from the Bible in a way that makes sense to other people.
Please know that there are different measures of the same gift. For example, there are many people that have the gift of teaching. Some are more skilled at teaching small groups of 3 to 4 people, while others are better in the environment of teaching to 100's. And like we learned earlier, no gift is better than the other!
Gift #4: "If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously"
All Christ followers are called to give at the level of tithing, but God has given some people the special knack for making money and the heart to give resources away beyond the ten percent figure.
Gift #5: "If it is leadership, let him govern diligently"
How do you know if you have the ability to cast a vision and motivate teams of people that together can advance God's purposes?
John Maxwell says, "He who thinkth he leadth but hath no one following him is only taking a walk."
If people are following you, this is the most important part of identifying whether you have the gift of leadership!
Gift #6: "If it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully"
People with mercy gifts have the ability to show compassion to people who are in need or who are in pain.
Do you see yourself any where in these samples of gifts?
If you are think you have found your gift and later find out you were wrong, it is okay. You area learning by elimination so you have to keep experimenting.
Also, don't think that your spiritual gifts have to be lined up with something you do for a living. Jesus calls Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him and they were both in the fishing business. So you might expect that Jesus would use them to help feed the disciples, but instead he called them to be teachers and writers and evangelists. And it was thrilling for them to do something totally different than what we would have expected.