Romans 12:7a: If Service, In Our Serving; The One Who Teaches, In His Teaching

Romans 12:7
[7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; (ESV)

Paul continues in this section of his letter to the Romans in describing the gifts that God gives believers in Jesus Christ. Everyone gets a gift. Spiritual gifts are not just for the super spiritual. If everyone in a church was using their gift for the furtherance of God's Kingdom we would be seeing incredible results in our local body as well as in our community.

If your gift is service, you should be serving! Have you ever noticed that in most churches the majority of the work is done by a small number of people. Not only is it a small number of people, but it tends to be the same group of small people. Have you ever wondered why that is? There are many reasons to be sure. I want to just look at a couple.

One reason that many people choose not to serve is that there are those who are currently serving who make it abundantly clear that they view their area of service as their own personal turf. The moment you try to help them, or get anywhere near them they make it very clear that you are not welcome. You are intruding on their turf. This is a sad, but all too true occurrence in churches.

Another reason that people choose not to serve is that they do not realize that they are gifted people. Maybe a boss, or parent, or other person has made a church member feel like they are worthless. They do not volunteer to serve because they are afraid they would make mistakes. They could not possibly deal with their feelings of failure to be confirmed by trying unsuccessfully to serve.

Everyone has a gift of serving. We should all be emulating Jesus Christ, the ultimate servant. Church is the primary environment for us to use our gifts. Pray that God will open doors for you to serve. Do not be afraid to fail in your serving. We are all human and need a place to start.

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