What you are is God's gift to you;what you do with yourself is your gift to God. Danish proverb
God deserves your best.
He shaped you for a purpose, and he expects you to make the most of what you have been given. He doesn't want you to worry about or covet abilities you don't have. Instead he wants you to focus on talents he has given you to use. The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape. To do this you must discover your shape, learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to its fullest potential.
DISCOVER YOUR SHAPE
The Bible says, "Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. "' Don't let another day go by. Start finding out and clarifying what God intends for you to be and do.
Begin by assessing your gifts and abilities. Take a long, honest look at what you are good at and what you're not good at.
The best way to discover your gifts and abilities is to experiment with different areas of service. Many books get the discovery process backwards. They say, "Discover your spiritual gift and then you'll know what ministry you're supposed to have." It actually works the exact opposite way. Just start serving, experimenting with different ministries, and then you'll discover your gifts. Until you're actually involved in serving, you're not going to know what you're good at.
You have dozens of hidden abilities and gifts you don't know you've got because you've never tried them out.
Try doing some things you've never done before.
Don't try to figure out your gifts before volunteering to serve somewhere. Just start serving. You discover your gifts by getting involved in ministry.
Consider your heart and your personality.
Examine your experiences and extract the lessons you have learned. Only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for good.
Extracting the lessons from your experiences takes time.
ACCEPT AND ENJOY YOUR SHAPE
Since God knows what's best for you, you should gratefully accept the way he has fashioned you. Your shape was sovereignty determined by God for his purpose, so you shouldn't resent it or reject it. Instead of trying to reshape yourself to be like someone else, you should celebrate the shape God has given only to you.
Part of accepting your shape is recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at everything, and no one is called to be everything. We all have defined roles. God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you. The Bible says, `Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else."
Paul said it is foolish to compare ourselves with others. He said, "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise."
KEEP DEVELOPING YOUR SHAPE
Jesus' parable of the talents illustrates that God expects us to make the most of what he gives us. We are to cultivate our gifts and abilities, keep our hearts aflame, grow our character and personality, and broaden our experiences so we will be increasingly more effective in our service.
If you don't exercise your muscles, they weaken and atrophy. In the same way, if you don't utilize the abilities and skills God has given you, you will lose them.
-- God deserves my best.
Verse to Remember: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:15 (NN)