When we chose a gift a for someone we spend time in wrapping it with pretty paper, bows so that it is presentable. Have you ever given someone a gift and they used it recklessly, carelessly, or destructively? Can you remember the wrapping paper used on a gift? Can you remember when you gave a gift to someone who tossed it aside and didn’t bother to even open it? Can you think of a time when you gave a gift to someone and they didn’t thank you for it? How did that make you feel?
Then there are other times that you gave gifts to someone and they were excited about opening it. Their eyes lit up when they took it out of the box, they said, “Thank you” and used it as you hoped they would. How did it make you feel?
This is the way it is with God who has already given us a gift or gifts. Think of what might bring pleasure to His heart as He sees your use and appreciation for what he has given you. On the other hand, what would cause Him to feel hurt or disappointed? What if He saw that we just tossed our gifts aside unopened and unappreciated?
Read Matthew 25 and Luke 19:11. The master gives his servants various amounts of money according to their ability to handle it (verse 15) while he went on a journey.
He didn’t specifically tell them what to do, but the first two “went at once and put his money to work and gained five more and the other two more.” (v. 16). The third servant “went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money” (v. 18).
What does this mean for you and I concerning unwrapping our own gifts that have been entrusted to us?
Wanting to be used of God is the first step in unwrapping our gifts. We set our own limits because we don’t really desire to be used of God. I Corinthians 14:1 says, “Eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” Our priorities come ahead of God’s and we leave His gifts unwrapped and in the box. We don’t always think about what would please God and we never get past the wrapping paper.
If we have identified our gifts, then what are we willing to do with them? In the parables the servant also was also afraid to run the risk of investing his money because he knew the master was a hard and exacting person. Some reasons why we don’t get pass the wrapping paper besides not really WANTING to, is FEAR. We fear what people will say, we fear looking stupid, we fear failure, or fear of getting hurt again. Rather than experiencing that we leave our gifts wrapped up.
The master didn’t say, “because you have been very SUCCESSFUL in a very small matter–but because you have been TRUSTWORTHY, FAITHFUL–I will put you in charge of many things.” (v. 21).
We get past the wrapping paper by using our gifts. We desire to be used of God but we must go beyond that to actually putting the gift to use. We have to become a risk taker. As we first begin to unwrap our gift, we probably won’t feel entirely comfortable. We may feel scared to teach that first Sunday school class, to play that first piano solo, to cultivate the gift of hospitality, to make that first hospital visit, or to do anything that you haven’t done before. We stretch ourselves beyond our current limits. We extend our current borders.
When we are asked to do something, do we automatically say, “Oh, I couldn’t do that! Oh, it’s not a good time. I am not worthy!” When we say, “I can’t,” it usually means, “I won’t.”
Unwrapping our spiritual gifts is usually process over a period of time. It doesn’t happen quickly or easily. As the Lord finds us TRUSTWORTHY and FAITHFUL, He will add more. If He gives us a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom and we apply it to the situation, then He will be able to use you the next time. You might be taking baby steps in the use of your gift after you unwrap it. This is where our faith comes in. In the Romans 12:6 scripture from last week, it ways, “we have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a [person’s] gift is prophesying, let him use it IN PROPORTION TO HIS FAITH.” It takes our faith to begin to operate in our gifts once we get pass the wrapping paper.
As we walk in faith with our eyes and ears open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, IDEAS will begin to come. The idea comes and you step out in faith to do it–to speak or to serve. You just ATTEMPT to do it. It might be difficult–it might be scary, but you are learning to walk by faith and not by sight.
