According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: 

If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; if service, use it in service; 

if teaching, in teaching; 

if exhorting, in exhortation; 

giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:6-8 CSB

This is a long list of things, but think for a minute not about the "what", but about the "how" they are expressed.

Use it.

Use it.

Use it.

If you have a gift, use it. 

Find a way, a place, an expression of the things our God has placed in you, how He made you. 

Use it with.

Give with

Lead with

Show mercy with

What would your "with" be?

If my gift was to sing, my with might be to sing with power. Or passion.

Or as an offering to God.

To draw, with detail, with intricacy.

To paint with feeling.

To encourage with kindness.

To write with clarity 

To work with honesty

To teach with the future of my student in mind

To nurse with care

To build with integrity

There's a freedom here. We're not made the same, yet together we are weaved together into a beautiful tapestry of humanity, of a community that reflects the diversity and creative genius of our God.

And that happens when you use your gift, and use it in the way God has made you.

It is our worship.

#sunday

#romans

#romans12

#freedom