Using our Gifts Monday Through Saturday

Andy Manley

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. “ 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

The last couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to fill in for our youth pastor and run some of the middle school gatherings. I was a youth pastor for almost 7 years. Playing basketball with students and talking with them about God might be the best job description anyone can have. We talked about this verse from 1 Peter and how it applied to them. The big idea was that God has gifted each student and wants to impact others through these gifts. While it was true for students, I started thinking about how true it is for all of us.

When we talk about gifts, it’s easy to place the focus on how they play out in church. Worship, preaching, serving, and hospitality can all be gifts that help a lot of people in church. Those things are great. However, I sometimes wonder if we put all the emphasis on what gifts look like inside of the church. Figuring out what gifts look like Monday-Saturday is a lot harder. 

While God has given gifts to be used in church, I also think He’s given us unique gifts and passions that we don’t always realize are gifts at all. 

So many of the conversations we have with the people we work with or our neighbors revolve around what we’re passionate about. Sports. Who’s going to win the Super Bowl (Watch out for the Rams next year). What music we’ve been listening to. The newest podcast we listen to revolving around our hobby. How we can buy more Gamestop stocks. Whatever you find yourself talking about, it might point towards a gift. 

Peter talks about using whatever gifts we have. It’s amazing how unique God has created all of us. The unique passions and gifts you have are going to reach a totally different group of people than others can. These passions and hobbies are powerful bridges to connect with people and I believe Jesus is looking to use us to bring hope, words of encouragement, and a representation of who He is to people through our regular, everyday lives.