Tiny Seeds, Mighty Oaks

“Do you feel any of your passions/talents/gifts are not being used at all or wasted? Are they maybe on hold?” These were the questions we started to discuss last Friday. We didn’t get too far on the subject as conversation drifted towards other meaningful topics, but I’d like to share with you some excerpts from resources relating to this topic.

Katie Brazelton writes about our ordinary, everyday roles in life in her book Pathway to Purpose, “Once you begin to appreciate the treasure of today’s roles, we begin to experience the stress-reducing benefits of peace and rest. Once we believe that God values our today, we can stop looking for the greener pastures of more grandiose or broad-reach assignments. We can let go of all the things people say we should be doing. We can rest in the knowledge that every day (yes, every task) is locked safely in God’s heart. We can hold on to the dreams God has given us about the future without the pressure of having to make them happen right this second!”₁

“I believe that even in the midst of your ordinary routine, God reveals hints about what he’s called you to do. The Bible tells us that “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other,” so God has already blessed you with spiritual gifts, skills, talents and natural abilities. Whether you are able to teach, lead, feed, draw, sing, build, analyze, research, motivate, organize, write, or something else, God will provide situations to use those gifts to further his kingdom. That’s why Scripture admonishes us to use our gifts in accordance with the grace God has given us.

Your daily roles are incredible opportunities for you to use your natural and spiritual giftedness to help your family, friends, and neighbors learn about and become more like Christ. God breathed those traits into you purposefully to help you share his message in your everyday world. When you dedicate your heart and giftedness to work in concert with God’s current roles for your life, you may even begin to hear yourself say, “Life is good. I’ve never had such a sense of fulfillment. Thank you, Lord, for giving me such important tasks. How have I found such favor with you?”₁

And on a completely different side of the same coin, could your gifts be getting “in the way” of serving God? Here is another perspective of using our God-given gifts along with some cautionary/instructional words from the commentary I’m reading through right now. The author writes about Moses’ calling from God to lead His people out of Egypt.

"If you wonder how you can serve God, how you can be used by Him, take a look at what’s in your hand. God gave you gifts when you were born simply waiting to be activated when you were born again. You’re already doing that which He will energize and empower for ministry. What’s in your hand? A computer? A hammer? A basketball? That’s what He will use for His glory."2

Exodus 4:3 refers to Moses’ staff: "And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it."

"You may be an accountant, a carpenter, or a surgeon. God says, ‘Throw down your occupation, your profession and see what it is in and of itself: It’s a snake. If you’re living for it, if you’re all caught up in it, if you’re depending on it, you will be bitten by it.’ The same holds true – maybe especially true – with regard to ministry. Moses had been a faithful shepherd for forty years. Here, God makes it clear that nothing could compare to an empty hand lifted and open to Him. It’s as if, at the outset of the monumental ministry to which He was calling Moses, God said, ‘I must be your passion – not service for Me, not your talents and abilities, not your spiritual gifts. Nothing must take the place of an open hand, an open heart to embrace Me personally.

Maybe you’ve been forced to throw down some skill, some calling, some position you were good at, gifted for. Don’t despise this, for now you can say, ‘Lord, now that I don’t have that in my hand anymore, I’m rediscovering it’s not doing something for You that I crave, but simply You. I’m not looking for an opportunity to exercise my gift or to be used in ministry. I’m just looking for more intimacy with You. No wonder it had to be pried out of my hand. I get it. It’s a snake.’ And once you understand this, you’re in a position to pick it up once again…”₂

My first and foremost purpose [is] to get to know God intimately and to learn that I had value because He created me, not because of what I could do.₁

Let’s not despair that some of our gifts are not apparently being used; God would never gift us with special talents and abilities and then never use them for His glory. At some point in our life all of our gifts and abilities will be used though we may have to practice much patience before then. Some gifts might only be used at the right time for the right situation/people in our life. How sad it would be if our gifts were used at the wrong time and were completely disregarded by others or even pointed people to ourselves or others rather than pointing to God. Our passions are ultimately to give God glory whether that’s in showing others Christ’s love and serving others or being able to glimpse God’s goodness by personally reveling in the gifts He’s given us. So if you fear that one of your gifts will never come to fruition or accomplish a certain goal of yours, just remember your gifts and dreams are nothing in your own hands. God can take any and all of our abilities, passions or dreams and do far beyond anything we could imagine with them, if we just let Him. Our gifts and passions may just be in the “seed stage” or even lying dormant under ground, however God is the One who creates mighty oaks from them.

Love,
Crystal

1. Excerpt from Pathway to Purpose for women by Katie Brazelton
2. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Old Testament: Volume 1 by Jon Courson.