A delicious gift of fine chocolateshttp://www.chocolate.com/products/ghirardelli-galore/.
Think about your husband bringing you home a surprise gift of delicious, fine chocolates. You untie the beautiful blue bow, and open it, finding creamy chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, chocolates with almonds, cream-filled chocolates, dark chocolates....all the chocolate you could want, ready for you to eat to your heart's content.
They smell wonderful, and make your mouth water. But you do not even say thank you. Instead, you take the gift, wrap it back up, and put it in the back of your bedroom closet, never letting them see daylight again....and they finally go bad! Would that be a very respectful way to treat your husband? No, he wants you to use the gift he's given you ~ and enjoy them, to delight in them. It gives him immense pleasure to see you unwrapping a chocolate bar and biting into it, savoring the taste...and enjoying the chocolate with you!
This is the way it is with our spiritual gifts. God has put spiritual gifts inside of us to further His kingdom and for His glory. Yes, your gifts are like fine chocolates, wonderful gifts for you to unwrap, for you, God, and others to enjoy. They are for the glory of Jesus, and will further God's kingdom on earth. We don't need to hide them, but to use them. What are the spiritual gifts, and where are they listed in the Bible? Maybe you are not familiar with the spiritual gifts, and don't know they function or how to operate in them. Maybe you've never used your gifts before, but would like to begin.
My new podcast, The Spiritual Gifts, answers these questions from the Bible and encourages you to use the great gifts God has put inside of you. God wants to use you in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine. Just as the tip of an iceberg only reveals the visible part of the ice, and what is underneath the surface of the water is an enormous iceberg, so it is with our spiritual gifts. We have not even yet begun to tap into our potential in Christ. God wants to draw these incredible gifts out of you and me, for His glorious purposes, to reach a lost and dying world.
You can listen to my podcast at MyPodcast.com, and subscribe with Itunes or your feed reader. http://bethjones.mypodcast.com/.
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I really love this chocolate illustration of God's gifts. How offensive it must be for us to just ignore the special gifts he has selected just for us, and then for us to just shelve them. Lord, help me to be a better receiver of Your gifts.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I believe a lot of the reason people don't use their gifts is because they are not taught about them and don't know how to use them. Sometimes fear also holds people back using them - not wanting to make a mistake, not being sure it's really God speaking to them, etc. I too want to use my gifts more for God, to please Him. :)
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