DAY 285 - Do Not Neglect The Gift That Is In You

I Timothy 4:14-15 (NIV) ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.

II Timothy 1:6-7 (NIV) ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Do not neglect your gift … the word is charismata, a grace gift. As each has received a grace gift to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ, use it. Carrying out the ministry of Jesus Christ helps us to be who God intended. We are made to share in the work of Jesus Christ in all that we do: in our responsibility to our family, in our responsibility at work, and in our responsibility to love and care for people.  The things that we do that give us deep and lasting pleasure usually involve the use of our gifts.

Do not let the pressures of the world push the awareness of your gifts out of your mind and heart. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. Neglect comes from giving in to the pressures of the society around us, what family expects, what our boss is asking of us, what our spouse wants from us, what our teacher is telling us to strive for, what our friends hope we will be and do, what the media is telling us that we need. These are pressures around us to neglect our gifts, but they have no power over us unless we give in to these demands and expectations. Do not let the pressures of the world push the awareness of your gifts out of your mind and heart. Lacking a sense of giftedness and call we become burdened and burned out. Without a sense of purpose we become driven and determined.

Then in his second letter to Timothy, Paul says the same thing in a more positive way when he says that we are to fan into flame the gift of God, to stir up the fire of life within us. It is not enough simply to resist the pressure. We must be pro-active against it. And the only way to do that is to stay close to the flame who is Jesus Christ. Jesus inspires the awareness of our gift. If it is the pressure of the world around us that causes us to neglect our gifts, we need another world, a community that does not try to mold and manipulate according to its design, but a Christian community that seeks to clarify, to correct, and to confirm our gifts.

Attend diligently to these things. The athlete and the artist both submit their gifts to discipline if they are to be developed. Begin with what you already feel gives God and you pleasure. It may or may not be easy but it will be worth the price. It may or may not help you earn money, but it will be worth your life. Stay close to the flame in a Christian community. Do not neglect the gift. Rekindle the gift.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 16, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell