Who has time to stop and smell the roses?
Who has time to consider the big picture?
How in the world do we actually be still and know that He is God?
Sometimes we’re so busy doing life that we ignore the very people we’re doing life with. Even worse, we miss the very One who gave us life.
Or, on a more positive note, what about those moments when something so awe-inspiring and so glorious captures our attention and causes us to pause and take it all in? …
I recently went to an art gallery and experienced something uniquely inspiring for me… something I didn’t know would still have my head reeling with thoughts weeks afterwards. I’d been to this particular gallery before and marveled at the vastness of this one man’s creativity and the shear size and scale of some of his paintings. But this time was different. My life is much busier and far more emotionally and relationally complex now than it was the first time I visited. I thoughtfully stood and admired each of his paintings, but a few would draw me back again and again. Some led me into a world of fantasy and intrigue. A few brought tears to my eyes. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to return to the busyness of the world outside the gallery.
This particular artist’s ability to translate the glory of God’s creation onto canvas was astonishing to me. He was able to take something as simple as a solitary mountain of snow with three spruce trees on it and paint it in a way that made me pause and stare and enjoy its simple beauty even though I would probably never marvel over that same pile of snow in real life. Why not? Because that same mountain of snow in real life would probably be accompanied by several other mountains of snow with various trees scattered here and there and somehow the simple beauty of that one would get lost in the bigness of all the rest. A great artist has the ability to eliminate the mind’s distractions and open a person’s eyes to see something in a unique way. Their pieces make you want to stop, ponder, pause, rest…
The gift of interrupting life’s craziness to bring solace. The gift of shining a light from an unfamiliar angle so that people see things differently. The gift of taking the common and ordinary and making them spectacular. The gift of bringing clarity to things that are large and complex. The gift of diffusing unnecessary details in order to see what really matters.
In the same way that this artist was gifted to do this through painting, I think every believer in Christ is called to do the same thing through their unique God-given gifts!
“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.
Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.
Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.
Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.”
And Paul also said something similar:
“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
If you are a teacher, teach well.
If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.
If it is giving, give generously.
If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.
And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Don’t just pretend to love others.
Romans 12:6-9
Do you see the similarities in these two passages? I think many of us who’ve read these lists before might get stuck in trying to figure out which one of these particular gifts is ours and miss the heart of the passage altogether. So, for the sake of this particular blog post I want you to try your best to ignore the specific titles of gifts (i.e. prophesy, serving, leadership, etc.) in order to see the broader scope of what both Peter and Paul were trying to communicate.
There are three life-transforming concepts being communicated in these two passages:
Our God-given gifts are meant to be used to serve others.
Whether you’re an artist, musician, manager, construction worker, teacher, stay-at-home mom, chef, pastor, author, firefighter, or gardener you should use those gifts to serve others and to do it well. Does this mean you shouldn’t receive any personal gain or compensation for your gifts? No, that’s not at all the implication here. In fact, the artist I mentioned earlier has paintings for sale that range from $29,000 to well over $100,000. He deserves to be rightly compensated for his labor, even though he’s not doing it for the money. He did share with us, however, that whatever revenue he receives is used to meet their basic needs and to keep the gallery lights on and the rest is used for furthering the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s using your gifts to serve others…
God has to be the continual supplier of all that is required for us to operate in our gifting.
Life for anyone becomes weary at times. Even if we’re in a place where we get to use our gifts and do what we love the most … that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard or monotonous. So, how do we continue using these gifts throughout the course of a lifetime without becoming bitter about feeling used or taken advantage of, or maybe envious of someone else’s gift, or bored by the routine of it all?
You have to abide in Christ.
Abiding in Christ (which means to dwell in, sit with, rely upon) is the only way to receive continual strength, renewal, energy, love, passion, vision, and creativity.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
Our gifts will glorify God if we are using them to serve people while relying on Christ to supply all that we need.
We have a choice to make every day, often several times within a day.
Are we going to use our gifts as a means to serve ourselves and make ourselves look good or are we going to use our gifts as a means to serve others and help God been seen as supremely good.
Is our desire to interrupt the busy lives of others in order to bring to them some form of solace, refreshment and clarity in life or are we just another noisy gong or clanging cymbal?
Jesus,
Beautiful Niki. I struggle for any more to say. Beautiful defines; the feeling you've left me, the words you penned, the lady I know that bared her heart in this, the spirit of your soul to express love and to use the gift our Lord has given you. I feel as though i walked through this gallery myself was gifted with the same inspiration it left on you. Thank you Niki