Love Empowers Your Unique Gifts

“Worship was not something believers attended. It was not something they watched. It was something they did. They did not gather to be entertained, but to respond to God’s love and grace with praise and gratitude, offering themselves to God and seeking to bless others.” * As your worship leads you to serving joyfully, it’s vital to remember that there are as many unique forms of service as there are people. The apostle Peter called Christians to “serve each other according to the gift each person has received.” Too often, we have a “one size fits all” idea of service. Or, as the apostle Paul wrote elsewhere, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?” (1 Corinthians 12:17) The call is to be yourself, as long as you make sure “being yourself” includes being a servant.

• In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul said using our gifts without love renders them useless to God (and, most often, to anyone else). In today’s reading, Peter, in a shorter form, made the same point. What makes love so vital as the environment in which we use our widely varying gifts? Who do you know who radiates joy while using personal gifts in love? What Peter said in verse 8 seemed to draw from the Hebrew wisdom of Proverbs 10:12. Of that passage, scholar John Goldingay wrote, “Honesty (v. 11) and self-giving build up the community (v. 12).” ** Some people still argue that following pure self-interest makes for better lives than trying to help others. But both Old and New Testament Scriptures came down firmly on the side of serving others joyfully to build fully human lives. How easy or hard do you find it to accept that wisdom?