Unwrapping God's Gifts Series

I love bumper-sticker theology. And one of my favorites is, “Life is hard try reading the instructions.” Those of you who have assembled toys or furniture may have discovered this principle the hard way. I’ve neglected to count the parts. I’ve put things together upside down and backwards. When I sit down to take a standardized test, I always want to start before the administrator says “go.” And I suspect - no, I know - that I am not alone in this.

We are impatient people. We want to find out instantly. But with God things, it usually doesn’t happen at the touch of a button. God gives us salvation in Jesus Christ for the asking. God gives us the Holy Spirit just for the asking. But - like all other living things - the gifts of the Spirit only grow when the conditions are right.

It’s actually a pretty straightforward process.

Step one is to pray and study. Seek, as Jesus said, and you will find. Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” [Pr 3:5,6] Read the Bible - AKA the instructions or the owner’s manual - pray, and listen for what God is impressing on your heart and mind. Studying the lives of Bible characters helps, too... You will probably identify more with some than with others. You might say, “that sounds like me. Maybe that’s how I should consider stepping out to explore my gifts.”

Step two is to try out different kinds of ministry. I think that sometimes we’re afraid that when we volunteer to do a job we are signing a lifetime contract. And I won’t try to tell you that this never happens. But you won’t get stuck doing something you hate if you keep in mind that this is only a journey of exploration. Your lifetime commitment is to Jesus Christ, not to the committee chair! Even elders are term-limited! And there are a lot of short-term opportunities for service. Look at the list in the last issue of Signals, or ask for a copy of the list in the visitor’s packet.

There was a new homeowner who went to the nursery to picked out trees, shrubs, and flowers to landscape his yard. While most of the plants did well, others turned brown and died. So the homeowner went back to the nursery and bought replacements. But they died, too. He went back to the nursery and complained. “Why do these plants keep dying on me?” he asked. The nurseryman said, “Did you plant them in direct sunlight? “ When the homeowner said, “yes, of course, I know plants need light and water to grow,” the nurseryman told him, “They don’t all need the same amount. These get all they can use in the shade.” Some of his other plants needed a more acid soil, others were for indoor use.

We’ve all heard the advice, “Bloom where you are planted,” and that’s true. But no matter where you’re planted, even if it’s both uncongenial and inescapable, if you know who you are, you can sometimes arrange for the conditions to be modified. Arrange for more or less shade or water or nitrogen so you won’t shrivel up and die, wondering what on earth has gone wrong. And sometimes you can pull up stakes and move to another part of the garden. You have options - but you need to know what you’re doing to exercise them.

Max DePree says it in a different way. “A whale is unique as a cactus. But don’t ask a whale to survive in Death Valley!”

That’s what we’re doing in the Monday night class. We’re trying to find out who we are so that we can find our place in God’s great design. Author Philip Edgecombe Hughes points out that an important part of freedom in Christ is to bring us into “harmonious unity with the will of God. As he functions within the purpose of his cre-ation, so, and only so, does he function freely. . . . A fish is not free to fly, nor a bird to live under water, but their freedom is not thereby violated; a reversal of their roles would be lethal for both, and therefore the end of their freedom.” We are truly free only when we have found our place within God’s purpose.

Step three could be called creative restlessness. What is going on inside you? Are you ever restless and twitchy, as if there’s something you ought to be doing but you can’t figure out what? Like there’s something missing and you’re not sure what it is? Maybe God is prodding you to take some risks and try something new. Be on the alert for new opportunities, for new people, for new challenges and directions. God is in the business of opening doors. See what’s opening up around you!