God deserves your best.
The best use of your life is
to serve God out of your unique shape; discover your shape, learn to accept and
enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest potential. What you are is God’s
gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God…
DISCOVER YOUR SHAPE
+ BEGIN by assessing your
gifts and abilities.
Take a long, honest look at
what you’re good at and what you aren't good at. Make a list. Ask other
people for their candid opinion. Be wary of serving or teaching or giving
generously out of maturity rather than because it is your spiritual gift. The
best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to experiment with different
areas of service – by experimenting with different ministries you will uncover
your true gifts. You have dozens of hidden abilities and gifts. No matter how
old you are, never stop experimenting. You will never know what you’re good at
until you try it out.
+ CONSIDER your heart and
your personality.
Again, it helps to get
feedback from those who know you best. (Doing this discovery into ‘The Purpose
Driven Life’ was prompted by someone who knew me well {didn’t fully realise it
at the time} challenging the mettle of my spiritual commitment)
+ EXAMINE your experiences
and extract the lessons you have learned.
Review your life and think
about how it has shaped you – forgotten experiences are worthless; and a good
reason for keeping a spiritual journal. (I store a lot of my personal life and
reflections online; in blogs, emails and enotes great for remote portable
access via my mobile phone – a writing journal is also always at my bedside)
We
rarely see God’s good purpose in pain or failure or embarrassment while it is
happening – only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for
good.
ACCEPT AND ENJOY YOUR SHAPE
God knows what’s best for
you – gratefully accept the way He has fashioned and wired you. Your shape was
sovereignly determined by God for His purpose – celebrate the shape God has
given only to you – recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at
everything, and no one is called to be everything. God wants you to enjoy the
shape He has given you. Don’t overextend your ministry; your goal is to stay
within the boundaries of God’s plan for you.
Satan will try to steal the
joy of service from you; by tempting you to compare your ministry with others
and by tempting you to conform your ministry to the expectations of others –
avoid comparisons, resist exaggeration, and seek only God’s commendation.
‘If my life is fruitless it doesn’t matter who
praises me; and if my life is fruitful it doesn’t matter who criticizes me.’ –
John Bunyan
KEEP DEVELOPING YOUR SHAPE
Cultivate your gifts and
abilities, keep your heart aflame, grow your character and personality and
broaden your experiences – in so doing you will be increasingly more effective
in your service. (So much easier said than done – keep persevering to your
life’s end, I guess) Whatever gifts you have been given can be enlarged and
developed through practice. Don’t settle for a half-developed gift, stretch
yourself and learn all you can. In Heaven we are going to serve God forever; so
prepare you for that eternal service by practicing on earth; thereby readying
yourself for eternal responsibilities and rewards.
Let’s do this together... Love
you ~ Stafford
“For this very reason, make
every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual
affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,
they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -2 Peter 1:5-8
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