Day 74: What’s your gift?
For reading and mediation: (Nehemiah 3:3-4)
“The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs.”
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| Photo credit: laboringinthelord.com |
Here’s good news for everyone. Whether you’re poor, rich, ugly, beautiful ,young or old… whatever social,economical or political status you are in, every believer on earth will receive a gift from God. Our creator has blessed his creations with a gift that is unique to the individual.
However, the bad news is not every Christian has discovered this gift from God. The parcels, sent by angels, were placed on our doorsteps but somehow not many has picked it up and unwrapped it. For some, the gift was left hidden somewhere, someplace and it was yet to be found. For others, they just didn’t have the guts to unwrap this special gift. This gift is not really in a physical form where you are blessed with good looks or amazing skin tone and body. Neither does it comes in a form of a humanistic talent like being able to sing, dance, paint or write like a pro or to do dangerous acrobatic acts in front of the camera without getting hurt.It’s something more than that. Beneath those brown packaging is actually a spiritual gift or a supernatural grace endowed to us by the Holy Spirit. With these spiritual gifts, the believers of Christ will be able to do the work of God or to fulfill the mission of the church.
With reference to Nehemiah 3:3-4 bible verses, Nehemiah knew exactly what type of work is suited for each of his followers and to maximise their strengths, he allocate specific tasks to people whom he knew they are good at. In this way, everyone fits nicely into the organisation puzzle. Similarly, God wants us to be part of His ministry. No one is going to be left idling or to feel useless about oneself..He already had a plan for us. And we armed with spiritual gifts to serve Him.
The 3 M Spiritual Gifts
1) Ministry gifts
2) Manifestation gifts
3) Motivational gifts
Ministry gifts: Apostle, prophet, evangelist, Pastor, teacher
Manifestation gifts: Prophecy, speaking in tongues,interpretation of tongues,faith, healing, miracles, word of wisdom, word of knowledge and discerning of spirits.
Motivational gifts: Serving, teaching, giving, encouragement, leadership and mercy
What is your charismata from God?
(Charismata is gift in greek.)
For me, I am in the midst of tearing open the brown package given by the Lord. It’s more likely a motivational gift which will train me to become a better christian servant. Maybe it’s encouragement or teaching ? As of which, I do not really know. In the past, as a young believer of Christ, I often compared the sizes of these spiritual gifts. ” God, why did she receive a bigger gift than mine? Look, mine is so small. It isn’t fair.” I didn’t realise that was actually a harmful thought injected by Satan himself . Harbouring such a negative thought had made me distanced myself away from God. Three years later, when my student came to me and said, ” Teacher, why did you give me this small prize when everyone else in the class has receive a bigger prize as compared to mine? It’s unfair. I want an even bigger prize from you.” I was dumbfounded. What am I going to say to this kid? How could I get him to understand that the size of the gift does not matter most? What would God say to those desires “bigger gifts” in life?
Stamp?
Checked.
Correct name and address?
Checked.
Sent.
…
…
…
You’ve got a parcel!
Whether it’s big or small,
I’ll take it home.
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Adapted from “What are spiritual gifts?” by Mary Fairchild
