And when I get tired from looking at things, I occasional engage in activities myself. I love playing baseball and church league softball. I play ultimate frisbee whenever I get the chance. And I frequent the disc golf course on campus.
Am I good at any of these things? Not really. But I play them anyway because I enjoy them and I think it would be really cool if I could get good at them. I want to make time for these games and I really want to do well when I participate in them. It would be awesome to be a disc golf superstar, right?
These are just games. I realize there is nothing wrong with trying to be good at them. Unfortunately, I feel like I sometimes have that same attitude with ministry. There are some things that I desperately want to be good at. There are opportunities that I want to partake in, or even lead, that I end up getting in the way more than helping.
There comes a time when you need to realize that your time could be better utilized staying within your talents. I would love to be able to lead a worship set, but I have zero musical ability. I would really like to take a leadership role in ministry to children, but large groups of kids drive me crazy. It would be awesome to be able to volunteer to rebuild homes for people in need, but I assume they want these homes to be thunderstorm ready and I can’t make any promises.
Sure, I can contribute in small ways to all of these ministries. But for the big ones, the ones that I pour my passion into, I need to choose opportunities that allow me to make a bigger contribution. I need to let the Holy Spirit lead me into these ministries instead of finding things that I think I would enjoy or that I would like to be good at.
What are your talents? Are you utilizing your talents in ministry? Or are you too busy trying to be a disc golf superstar?
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. (Romans 12:6-8 NLT)