AXIOM
•Playing in God's playground
•Spiritual enemies
•Hoarding your spiritual gifts
•Worship using your spiritual gifts There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of work, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.
1 Corinth. 12:4-6, NIV
While camping a few summers ago, I watched the daughter of one of my family friends, who came with us on the trip. Sitting at the table, Maple, a little three-year-old, came up to me, tugged my hand, and in a sweet little voice asked, “Go play at the park?” I couldn’t refuse.
At the sandbox was a group of kids playing together, except for this young girl who looked old enough to know better. I sat on the edge of the sandbox as they dug holes, looked for pretend treasure, and ran dump trucks into structures they imagined were gleaming sandcastles.
A while later, Maple came up to me, upset. “She won't let me in the toolbox.” “What's going on?” I asked, as I stood up. “She won’t let me get a shovel or a bucket,” she said, crying.
The girl acted like an enemy to these children, preventing them from looking for treasures in the sandbox. She would shut the lid to prevent them from getting the tools in the bin.
Spiritually, this incident reminded me that we are like children in God's playground.
We often need to go back to the basics, figure out our strengths, how God calls us to participate in building His kingdom and what tools we need to access. We need to play.
Sometimes we interfere and prevent others from accessing what other people need. It may be due to pride, jealousy, envy, anger or any other reason, our emotions or wants get the best of us.
We are not meant to hoard our gifts or prevent others from using theirs. I think this can include the Accuser or Thief in the Bible, who, in John 10:10, says the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give us a full life.
The girl represents not just when people become a stumbling block but also that we hoard or hide our gifts. Our gifts are meant to be shared with others, not kept away because we are afraid they may get stolen, lost or destroyed.
Children, when they make something, often want to show everyone and have others participate in what they are making. They are not afraid of what could happen when they express their gifts and talents. God made us uniquely, with different skills and gifts that we can give to the world to use as worship.
God is proud when we want to share our gifts and talents with others. We don’t have to build something perfect to worship God; He loves that we show Him our best attempts with what He gave us.
Twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist and teacher, Oswald Chambers, said, “Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship.”
Be careful with the gifts and talents God has given. Take time to use your gifts as an act of worship before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship.
When we prevent others from using their spiritual gifts or hoard our own, we hinder people from worshipping God. Even worse, we withhold our worship from God.
We must be mindful of our spiritual gifts, as Chambers advised.
Perhaps, like the children building sandcastles, God is proud of us for our efforts. He has given you your spiritual gifts, and in return, we should give God our best.
We should not be stumbling blocks to others or fail to act on what God has given us. By doing this, we miss the opportunity to participate in God's work in our lives and the lives of others. It is the same God at work and what a blessing it is that God wants us to be a part of that work. ✲
