Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
*The following was said so perfectly by one of the pastors at my church, Gary Bradenburg, that I couldn't do anything but copy and paste it from his sermon notes which can be found here.*
The important thing is that gifts are for giving. It is not so important that we catergorize the gift but that we use it to bless others. It doesn’t matter how small the gift it is important to the Giver. I learned this one night when God showed up at the East Texas Symphony. I love the symphony…for about ten minutes. My favorite part is the beginning. The tuning, the conductor appears, the stillness, the uplifted baton, the anticipation, and when that baton descends the heavens open. All of those instruments playing their parts creating one magnificent sound. But on this particular night I did not hear the Lord in the whirlwind of the woodwinds, I did not see the Lord in the rumbling earthquake of the kettle drums, I saw him standing there in the back with this…(triangle). What do you call this person? The triangulator? The percussive triangulist? The man was focused on the score in front of him. While the violins were bowing and the oboes were blowing he simply waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, at just the right time he went…DING. I almost came out of my chair and shouted, “You’re the man!”
God doesn’t ask us to save the world. God doesn’t expect us to do it all. He just asks us to play our part, to just ding. Everything God created has a purpose. And every creation of God is equipped for that purpose. God wouldn’t put fish in the sea without gills or birds in the sky without wings. God wouldn’t put you where you are to reflect who He is without giving you the equipment to do it. You may not be 1st chair but you have a part, and when you play your part I’m sure the One who died for you wants to come up out of His chair and say, “You’re the man/woman.”
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