God Gives Spiritual Gifts


Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."

 

Eph 4:7–8

In I Peter 4:10, we are instructed that each of us has a spiritual gift from God which is to be used “to serve others.”  We see the purpose of this gift in the very next verse, that “in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”  God wants our lives to point to Him.


Each of us, no matter how gifted or limited we are, has a purpose by God to serve Him and bring Him glory.   There are no "nobodies" in the Kingdom of God.  There are just faithful and faithless.  Each of us has received a talent or a gift for God’s glory.  Each of us have been called to serve others and God.


All of us have either been given a speaking gift or a serving gift according to I Peter 4:10-11.  Some of us have been given a gift to speak God’s word into people’s lives, like teaching or encouragement, while others have been gifted to serve with a ministry of helping, giving, praying, or extending mercy to those hurting and in need.


Perhaps my greatest lesson that all of us can serve in some way came in the person of Kyle.  Kyle became a regular part of my life at a church in Sussex County, NJ, where I served after returning from 10 years of missionary service in India.  The year was 1999.


Kyle has Down syndrome and while I was pastoring in Sussex, he would always coming looking for me to tell me how he was doing and give me a bone crushing hug.   This went on for the entire four years while I served there.   Kyle loved me and always tried to encourage me.


Kyle also worked part-time as a custodian for a local company, where one of his jobs was mopping the floors.   One year, that company decided to give Kyle employee of the month and have a special luncheon for him.

When they invited Kyle up to the podium to give him a gift and a special plaque for his service , they gave him an opportunity to speak.  Kyle said something like this, “when I mop the floors, I try to do the best I can because I am doing it for the Lord.  He is the One who helps me to do this job.”


You could imagine there really wasn’t a dry eye in that lunch room when hundreds listened to Kyle’s testimony.  Kyle understood something that all of us need to understand, and that is:  each of us has a God-given purpose and that through us others can know something about God.


What a joy it is to know that we have been given a purpose and a gift from God.  And God in His infinite wisdom desires to use each of us, no matter what our gift is, that “in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”