Scripture – Romans 12: 1-8 NLV
Christian brothers, I ask you from my heart to give your bodies to God because of His loving-kindness to us. Let your bodies be a living and holy gift given to God. He is pleased with this kind of gift. This is the true worship that you should give Him. 2 Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.
3 God has given me His loving-favor. This helps me write these things to you. I ask each one of you not to think more of himself than he should think. Instead, think in the right way toward yourself by the faith God has given you. 4 Our bodies are made up of many parts. None of these parts have the same use. 5 There are many people who belong to Christ. And yet, we are one body which is Christ’s. We are all different but we depend on each other. 6 We all have different gifts that God has given to us by His loving-favor. We are to use them. If someone has the gift of preaching the Good News, he should preach. He should use the faith God has given him. 7 If someone has the gift of helping others, then he should help. If someone has the gift of teaching, he should teach. 8 If someone has the gift of speaking words of comfort and help, he should speak. If someone has the gift of sharing what he has, he should give from a willing heart. If someone has the gift of leading other people, he should lead them. If someone has the gift of showing kindness to others, he should be happy as he does it.
From Tammy Smits
I am sure I am not alone in scrolling a social media platform of choice, looking at the posts of people who are more fit than me, who have better gardens than mine, who have taken more interesting vacations, have more thoughtful opinions on world matters, and generally seem to have their ducks in a row much tidier than mine.
Paul sends a reminder that we are all joined together similar to how individual parts of a body make a whole, and as such we all have different gifts to share. Fingers don’t hear well, toes don’t see much, and knees stink at smelling things (pun intended). God may not have fashioned me as a fitness guru, master gardener, travel expert or political philosopher. But I am blessed with other talents.
We all need to stop trying to be what we aren’t and comparing ourselves to others, and instead learn to recognize, hone and celebrate our unique gifts and how they can be used to serve ourselves, others and God. And maybe we could cut back on the social media scrolling while we are at it.
Contemplation and Conversation
What unique gifts do you have that you can celebrate?
Prayer
Dear Lord, help me to recognize and appreciate
the gifts you have so graciously given me,
and to learn use them wisely and effectively.
Amen.
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