What if you sang really well? What if your voice was pitch perfect, smooth, and when you opened your mouth it was if the clouds rolled back and the heavens parted just to shine a light on your voice? Most people sing, even if it's just in the shower, but few people have a voice that is show stopping. How I would give for a voice like that.
But what if you had a voice like that, but you only sang at your home when no one else was around. The only people hearing your beautiful gift, were you and God.
That's okay though, right? This is a gift from God and I'm turning my gift around to sing praises to Him, so I know I'm glorifying Him. He gave me this gift of song, so I know my voice is pleasing to Him.
There is truth in that. The Lord loves to see us use the gifts He has given to us, that's why they're called gifts! But how sad to know that when you stay at home, you miss fellowship with other believers, and when you allow other people to do what you have been called to do, you miss out on the rich blessings the Lord has for you. By keeping your gift to yourself, you have told God what He is allowed to do in your life. You are limiting His hand in your life.
1 Corinthians 12 describes how the Spirit distributes gifts and how we are all working together with a heavenly perspective. I encourage you to read it, to learn how important it is to share the gifts God has given us.
In the privacy of our own home, far from the judgemental eyes of people around us is where we feel most comfortable to give back to God what He has given us. But that is not our calling. Our blessings come from when we push past our comfort zones and give all we have to Him.
To me a perfect example of this is when you were in school and had to do group projects. Ideally, everyone had a role to play. They would do everything asked on the correct time frame and no person would have to do more than her partners. However, reality was always different. You would have one person, say an artist, who wouldn't do their part. So the person who was going to do the research volunteers to do the art work. They aren't good at it, they are a bundle of nerves until the project is turned in. But, they are willing to help, and knows the person who is the artist isn't going to do their job. So they do what is necessary. It isn't bad, but it's not the best. It get the job done, but isn't the most professional work done.
If the church was a group project, which member would you want to be? Most people would say, I'd rather be the person who does both jobs. My viewpoint is slightly different. I'd rather a church that worked ideally. Where we all came together, worked within our gifts, pushed boundaries, and pushed each other forward. I want to feel confident in what I'm doing. If my gift is my voice, I want to find someone who can play the piano and someone who is great with adolescents and let's start a youth choir.
Everyone has their gifts and they can be used in unexpected ways. BUT, they can never be used in an unexpected ways if you do not push yourself to use it in a public setting. If the only place you allow your gifts to be seen is alone in your home, that means some one in your church is doing a "make do" job in the area you really could excel in. You are telling God, I appreciate what you have given me, but I will decide how it is used.
Instead, pray on your gifts. Ask God to show you new ways to step outside of that comfort zone. How much more fulfilling could your life be if you allowed God to point you in the directions your gifts should take you? How many more rewards could you have in heaven, if you lived with that perspective every day?
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes. A thought that keeps me moving when I feel like God is pushing me towards something I'm unsure of. Erma Bombeck said, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left. That I could say, I have nothing left, I used it all.
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