do you have anything to bring to the table?
Do you ever feel as though you have nothing to give? Are you ever struggling to find your purpose in life, the direction your to go? At times I can look at others and think they are doing so much for God's kingdom, and I take a look at myself and wonder am I bringing as much as I can, or am I just getting by? At church when we have an event we always have a pot luck dinner. All bring great dishes for everyone to dine in, and fellowship together. Now, you have those ladies who seem to bring enough food to the table to feed an army, you have those women who create a dish that makes you go Wow! Then you have ladies like me, who at times I bring a bag of chips and dip to the table. So is that really enough, is going to feed people? Did I bring my best to the table or did I do what was easy? At times I have to be honest and say I didn't bring my best, I took the easy way out. We are like that in life so many times. We are afraid to ask God what He wants us to do, because we are afraid of the answer. We want to serve Christ, but we want Him to give us something easy so we don't have to go out of our way, or step out of our circle. We should be willing to bring our best to the table daily. We should be asking God is will for our lives, and be ready to follow where He sends us. We are so fearful He will ask too much of us. At times the problem is we know He is going to ask us to bring it all to the table, but we are afraid we can't deliver. There is a buffet in front of us, gifts that God wants us to bring, so whats the hold up? Have you ever gone through a drive-through? You place your order at the speaker after looking at all the possibilities, you choose what you want, pay and grab your bag, only to look in it and find that your order was wrong. Maybe they didn't add the pickles, maybe they didn't get the salad right, maybe they just gave you someone elses food. That poor child behind the counter is about to get yelled at by an angry customer for making a mistake. She should have the same grace that we want. She failed to listen and was in a hurry therefore she got the order wrong. With God, we must listen for the order, we must take it down right. We must have faith in Him, and when we follow Him and give Him our very best without taking shortcuts to make it easy on us, He is going to move through us. He isn't going to be angry that we didn't get it right, He will be proud that we followed Him, and we tried with a 100%. When we serve Christ, we must be willing to give our all, not just the easy ones, not just the fun ones, but we must be willing to go where ever He calls. We are right in saying that the job may be big, we may even think we can't do it, but we can do anything through Christ. If we turn our lives toward Him, He will show us, He will reveal our gifts and let them shine forth before the world to bring glory and honor to Him. So what are you waiting for? Don't press the easy button, don't take the short cut, take all He has and bring it before the table with joy, spread out your buffet, let others see that yes, the job is a big one, But when He can trust us with a little, He will soon give us alot, bigger jobs, that we know can only be done with Him. So whether you are the cook, the baker, the server, or the dishwasher at your pot lucks, give your all, and watch Him work through those gifts He has given~ "Having then gifts according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; to ministry, let us use it in our ministering; He who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; He who gives, with liverality; he who leads, with diligence; He who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8
Do you ever feel as though you have nothing to give? Are you ever struggling to find your purpose in life, the direction your to go? At times I can look at others and think they are doing so much for God's kingdom, and I take a look at myself and wonder am I bringing as much as I can, or am I just getting by? At church when we have an event we always have a pot luck dinner. All bring great dishes for everyone to dine in, and fellowship together. Now, you have those ladies who seem to bring enough food to the table to feed an army, you have those women who create a dish that makes you go Wow! Then you have ladies like me, who at times I bring a bag of chips and dip to the table. So is that really enough, is going to feed people? Did I bring my best to the table or did I do what was easy? At times I have to be honest and say I didn't bring my best, I took the easy way out. We are like that in life so many times. We are afraid to ask God what He wants us to do, because we are afraid of the answer. We want to serve Christ, but we want Him to give us something easy so we don't have to go out of our way, or step out of our circle. We should be willing to bring our best to the table daily. We should be asking God is will for our lives, and be ready to follow where He sends us. We are so fearful He will ask too much of us. At times the problem is we know He is going to ask us to bring it all to the table, but we are afraid we can't deliver. There is a buffet in front of us, gifts that God wants us to bring, so whats the hold up? Have you ever gone through a drive-through? You place your order at the speaker after looking at all the possibilities, you choose what you want, pay and grab your bag, only to look in it and find that your order was wrong. Maybe they didn't add the pickles, maybe they didn't get the salad right, maybe they just gave you someone elses food. That poor child behind the counter is about to get yelled at by an angry customer for making a mistake. She should have the same grace that we want. She failed to listen and was in a hurry therefore she got the order wrong. With God, we must listen for the order, we must take it down right. We must have faith in Him, and when we follow Him and give Him our very best without taking shortcuts to make it easy on us, He is going to move through us. He isn't going to be angry that we didn't get it right, He will be proud that we followed Him, and we tried with a 100%. When we serve Christ, we must be willing to give our all, not just the easy ones, not just the fun ones, but we must be willing to go where ever He calls. We are right in saying that the job may be big, we may even think we can't do it, but we can do anything through Christ. If we turn our lives toward Him, He will show us, He will reveal our gifts and let them shine forth before the world to bring glory and honor to Him. So what are you waiting for? Don't press the easy button, don't take the short cut, take all He has and bring it before the table with joy, spread out your buffet, let others see that yes, the job is a big one, But when He can trust us with a little, He will soon give us alot, bigger jobs, that we know can only be done with Him. So whether you are the cook, the baker, the server, or the dishwasher at your pot lucks, give your all, and watch Him work through those gifts He has given~ "Having then gifts according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; to ministry, let us use it in our ministering; He who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; He who gives, with liverality; he who leads, with diligence; He who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8
