Bible Reading: II Timothy 1:1-17
Key Verse: Verse 6 - “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”
Key Words: remembrance...the gift
Every one of us has at least one
spiritual gift we can use for God’s glory.
The question is: Are we continually stirring up the gift to make it fit
and useful in God’s service?
Once upon a time, the animals
decided they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new
world. So they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum of
running, climbing, swimming and flying.
To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all
the subjects. The duck was excellent in swimming,
in fact, better than his instructor. But
he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to drop
swimming and stay after school to practice running. This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so
that he was only average in swimming.
But average was quite acceptable, so nobody worried about that – except
the duck. The rabbit started at the top
of his class in running but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles
because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent at climbing, but he encountered constant
frustration in flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground
up instead of from the treetop down. He
developed “Charlie horses” from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing
and a D in running. The eagle was a
problem child and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing classes he beat all the others to
the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there.
The obvious moral of that story
is a simple one – each creature has its own set of capabilities in which it
will naturally excel – unless it is expected or forced to fill a mold that
doesn’t fit. When that happens, frustration,
discouragement, and even guilt brings overall mediocrity or complete
defeat. A duck is a duck – and only a
duck. It is built to swim, not to run or
fly and certainly not to climb. A
squirrel is a squirrel – and only that.
To move it out of its forte, climbing, and then expect it to swim or fly
will drive a squirrel nuts. Eagles are
beautiful creatures in the air but not in a foot race. The rabbit will win every time unless, of
course, the eagle gets hungry. What is
true of creatures in the forest is true of Christians in the family, both the
family of believers and the family under your roof. God has not made us all the same. He never intended to. It was He who planned and designed the
differences, unique capabilities, and variations in the Body.
Remember, use your gift and remember, not everyone
has the same gift.
What to do:
✞Stir up the gift that is in you.
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