For just as each of us
has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same
function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others. We have
different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is
prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it
is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if
it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give
generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it
cheerfully. (Romans
12:4-8)
There is a scene in Young Sherlock Holmes in which Sherlock expresses his disgust at his inability to play the violin. When someone asks how long he’s been studying violin, he said that he’d started that morning. I can relate. I’ve tried sketching and painting. I took violin in school. I tried to teach myself to play piano. I’ve sung in choirs and even taken singing lessons. I did teach myself to play guitar to a camp-fire level. I can’t say that I am gifted musically or artistically. I’m not a people person. My dog is the social butterfly in our household. It would be easy for me to say that I’m not gifted in any of those ways.
The issue of spiritual giftedness is even worse. Since I’m not a people person, I’m also not good at mercy, hospitality, or encouragement. I don’t have the where-withal to give. When I prophesy, no one listens. The same when I teach. Of course, the reason I say those things is because I don’t outshine the worlds’ greats in those areas. No one is writing poetry about me, singing my praises, or writing my biography. If they did, I’d be mortified. But isn’t that the way we think of gifts? What we do is too small, and too easy, to be a g.i.f.t.
I wonder if part of this is because with gifts come responsibilities. If I have a gift, I am supposed to use it. I’m accountable for how I use it. It’s so much easier to say, “I don’t have a gift,” and walk away both free and rewarded with the pity of those around us. It also gives us license to freeload. Today’s passage doesn’t let us get away with that. Paul says we have gifts. We have things that we are and things that we can do that belong to other people. We are responsible to them for the use of those things on their behalf. Gifts are huge, but they’re not about us.
Paul makes two more points. The first is that we are to use our gifts. If our gift is prophesying, we are to prophesy. If our gift is serving, we are to serve. It if is teaching, we are to teach. Use them or lose them. The second point is about one of my favorite subjects: attitude. How are we to prophesy? In accordance with our faith. How are we to give? Generously. How are we to lead? Diligently. How are we to show mercy? Cheerfully. Does it sound to you like we’re supposed to be putting effort into our practice of our gifts? Exuberance? Enthusiasm? A good attitude?
Could it be that the how is more important than the how well?
There is a scene in Young Sherlock Holmes in which Sherlock expresses his disgust at his inability to play the violin. When someone asks how long he’s been studying violin, he said that he’d started that morning. I can relate. I’ve tried sketching and painting. I took violin in school. I tried to teach myself to play piano. I’ve sung in choirs and even taken singing lessons. I did teach myself to play guitar to a camp-fire level. I can’t say that I am gifted musically or artistically. I’m not a people person. My dog is the social butterfly in our household. It would be easy for me to say that I’m not gifted in any of those ways.
The issue of spiritual giftedness is even worse. Since I’m not a people person, I’m also not good at mercy, hospitality, or encouragement. I don’t have the where-withal to give. When I prophesy, no one listens. The same when I teach. Of course, the reason I say those things is because I don’t outshine the worlds’ greats in those areas. No one is writing poetry about me, singing my praises, or writing my biography. If they did, I’d be mortified. But isn’t that the way we think of gifts? What we do is too small, and too easy, to be a g.i.f.t.
I wonder if part of this is because with gifts come responsibilities. If I have a gift, I am supposed to use it. I’m accountable for how I use it. It’s so much easier to say, “I don’t have a gift,” and walk away both free and rewarded with the pity of those around us. It also gives us license to freeload. Today’s passage doesn’t let us get away with that. Paul says we have gifts. We have things that we are and things that we can do that belong to other people. We are responsible to them for the use of those things on their behalf. Gifts are huge, but they’re not about us.
Paul makes two more points. The first is that we are to use our gifts. If our gift is prophesying, we are to prophesy. If our gift is serving, we are to serve. It if is teaching, we are to teach. Use them or lose them. The second point is about one of my favorite subjects: attitude. How are we to prophesy? In accordance with our faith. How are we to give? Generously. How are we to lead? Diligently. How are we to show mercy? Cheerfully. Does it sound to you like we’re supposed to be putting effort into our practice of our gifts? Exuberance? Enthusiasm? A good attitude?
Could it be that the how is more important than the how well?
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