8^th March

“Use whatever gift you’ve received for the good of one another so that you can show yourselves to be good stewards of God’s grace in all its varieties. If you’re called upon to talk, speak as though God put the words in your mouth; if you’re called upon to serve others, serve as though you had the strength of God behind you. In these ways, God may be glorified in all you do through Jesus the Anointed, to whom belongs glory and power, now and forever. Amen.”

1 Peter 4:10-11

(The Voice Translation)

We can only love because we have been loved first. We can only forgive because we have been greatly forgiven. Likewise, we can only serve because God has equipped us with the tools to serve Him. In today’s verse we discover that God is the One who gives us good gifts so that we can serve Him fully with our lives and so that He can be glorified. Peter encourages His readers, that if we are given gifts, we shouldn’t hide them or bury them until Jesus comes back (much like the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25). Rather we should invest them into His kingdom so that His Kingdom can grow and so that God may be glorified.

Today let us be encouraged that if God has given us gifts, then as Peter says, do it as if God is right there with you. If you are to give an encouraging word to someone as a friend, as a stranger or as part of a message from a pulpit, do it as if God is whispering in your ear the words to say. If you are to serve, do it as if your hands are intertwined with God’s. It is only when God is at the center and is the purpose of you using your gifts, that He can be glorified and that your gifts will be most useful for His Kingdom. Go with Kingdom power and serve the One who has given you life!