Spin What Your Daddy Gave You
posted On: October 11th, 2011 at 11:22am "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly..." Romans 12:6ff NASBSpring is here and with the change of the season come many different carnivals and fairs all around town. One that comes to mind is the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair, a.k.a. "The Fair". Since I grew up in South Florida, I have many fond memories of "The Fair", so I want to use one of them for an illustration that lines up perfectly with today's blog and scripture.
In Romans 12:1, we see that Paul writes to us about being dedicated in service to the Lord. He starts out by urging us to "present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship". In other words, present everything you are and have as a sacrifice to Him and His purpose as our spiritual service of worship. Now, most people will ask what "everything we are and have" means. The way I like to put it best, is everything that He has originally given you! Whether it be physical gain, financial gain, spiritual gain, etc... He has given it to you in order for you to invest it into His Kingdom. Did you really think that it was just for you to hoard up until you die?
Verse 2 tells us, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect".
Have you ever heard "you are so heavenly-minded that you are no earthly good"? Well, there is a reciprocal to that statement as well, which is, "you are so EARTHLY-minded that you are no HEAVENLY good"! When we are conformed to the worries of this world, we can sometimes become useless for Him and His Kingdom. We hear things like "I don't have enough time, I don't have enough this or enough that"...for God?! That is basically what we are saying!
Now granted, everyone has been given a different measure of gifts, and we see a little further in chapter 12 where Paul focuses on our gifts, and exhorts us to use them accordingly, as a body that has different roles. For example, the eye cannot be a foot, and a hand cannot be a knee. So each one of us is to discover what our gifts are, and use them accordingly.
Discovering or identifying our spiritual gifting is not always easy, but the best way to describe it, (enter illustration here! Ha!)...
Picture yourself at the fair, and you walk up to a "Spin-Art" stand, where you spin a poster card in a machine, then drip some paint onto it while it is spinning. Let's say that each different color of paint represents one of the different gifts. For example, blue=prophecy, red=service, yellow=teaching, green=exhortation, orange=generosity/giving, purple=leading, white=mercy.
Then you drip whatever amounts of paint, from the different gifts listed, according to how you perceive yourself. The strongest gift, will use the most drips of paint, and the least of the giftings will have the least amount of paint. These gifts and paint represent "what your Daddy gave you". Once you are done spinning it, the card and paint will all overlap, mix together, and create other colors and shapes.
Now, remove your card, and what you have is symbolic of your spiritual gift! It is you!
God made you and saved you, to serve Him exactly as you are right now! No need to say that you are "not there yet". As you serve Him, you can also develop your gifts further so that you can be more effective for Him!
So, "spin what your Daddy gave you", and worship Him!
Guido