Here’s a common pattern for people who live life, especially when serving God, without operating through their gifts.
The resulting pattern: doing and serving, but getting burned out.
The prophetic truth underlying this is the following:
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:30
Christ wants to release us from the burden when coming to God.
He freed us from feeling weighed down with to-do lists, fear of judgment, and doubt when serving God. He has already done this through his sovereign grace and the cross.
Because of that, a life in Christ that still feels burdened when serving God would run against the spirit of Christ’s death, wouldn’t it?
So one reason to really get clear and to take action on our spiritual gifts is to continue living and serving with lightness, not with burden that is so common in churches these days.
When you act because of should instead of through power given to you in grace, you're carrying an unneeded burden.
The problem is that we often push forward through our flesh.
Sometimes the church only gives options for serving that meet one type of gift.
Sometimes we choose ways to serve and expand God’s Kingdom by copying what others do or say.
That leads to frustration, exhaustion, and disappointment.
This is the opposite of God’s promise. In Ephesians 4, where Paul describes in more detail the “Five Fold” spiritual gifts, he writes:
But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.
The text for this is, He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people. Ephesians 4:7-13
The promise is that, in fact, we should not be the same as one another.
Instead, “each of us” have been given a gift.This makes clear that the promise of gifts is for each one of us.
It’s an amazing promise that should encourage, not discourage us, from seeking them and living through them.
So what’s the pathway to live this way?
Make sure you take the free "Spiritual Gifts" Assessment.
