{"id":6688,"date":"2020-08-30T17:48:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T07:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6688"},"modified":"2020-08-30T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T07:48:15","slug":"owe-it-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/owe-it-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Owe it to God"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Talents, Blessings and Spiritual Gifts Part 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owe it to God<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ereeny Mikhail<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

God shows us that the differences in our\ntalents, blessings and spiritual gifts are all puzzle pieces that complete a\ngreater purpose. But before we understand the meaning of all this, let\u2019s explore\nblessings and spiritual gifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Differently to a talent, a blessing (n). is\ndescribed in the Oxford dictionary, as something that is good or helpful. So,\nliving in a country that is not in a warzone is good, having a roof over our\nhead is good, having decent health is good and so on. Yet, often we feel we are\nin a shortage when it comes to blessings. Sometimes we wish we had more money\nor looked a certain way or was doing a certain thing. We work hard to try to\napply the secret recipe to increase our blessings and double them but find ourselves\nstill hungry for more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is important to recognise that\nalthough working hard to increase our blessings is important, it is also\nessential not to get consumed in this. St Paul in Philippians 4:19<\/strong>\nstates, \u201cGod shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by\nChrist Jesus.\u201d<\/em> If we are applying the secret recipe then we must know that\nwe are not in shortage. God is supplying all our need and we do not need more\nthan this. On the contrary, we should be utilising our blessing for Christ,\njust as the woman with the two mites did; \u201cbut she out of her poverty put in\nall the livelihood that she had.\u201d<\/em> (Luke 21:4)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further to this, it is essential to\nre-evaluate our standards. There isn\u2019t a level of any vain thing that we need\nto live up to except our own and Gods. If we do so, then there is nothing we\nlack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means, if God has given us a body and\nmind in good health, then we must use these to the best of our abilities. But\nlet\u2019s consider that someone may not feel handsome or beautiful because they\nhave gained a significant amount of weight due to overeating which has affected\ntheir health. I think then perhaps they must recognise that they are not using\ntheir blessing, of good health, that God initially gave them as best they can.\nOur body and mind are a temple of Christ and we should treat it as such. \u201c\u2026he\nwill be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for\nevery good work.\u201d<\/em> (II Timothy 2:21)<\/strong> If we do not feel that we are\ndoing enough with the blessings God has bestowed on us, including taking care\nof our \u2018sound mind\u2019 and body, then we must. This is His vessel that we must\nmake useful and prepare it for His good work. If we are doing so, then there is\nno more we need. There is no other standard we need to live up to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrastingly, a spiritual gift is often\ndifferentiated from talents and blessings, as they are given to those who\naccept and believe in Christ. It is made for the \u201cedifying of the body of\nChrist\u201d<\/em> (Ephesians 4:12)<\/strong>. Though, it is important to note that\ntalents and blessings, can be used as spiritual gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This differentiation lays in the fact that the\nspiritual gift can be lost. The talent remains, but it cannot used for\nedification if it is degraded. St Paul states in Romans 12:4-8<\/strong> \u201cFor\nas we having many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same\nfunction, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of\none another. Having then gifts different according to the grace that is given\nto us, let us use them; if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our\nfaith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in\nteaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who\nleads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.\u201d<\/em> Each of our\nspiritual gifts is different and useful and all for the purpose of \u2018edifying\u2019\nthe body of Christ. There is no one better or worse than the other. Thus, let\nus keep these spiritual gifts by recognising this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the meaning of all this? Talents?\nBlessings? Spiritual Gifts? St Paul tells us in I Corinthians 12:14-20<\/strong>: \u201cFor\nin fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say,<\/em> \u201cBecause\nI am not a hand, I am not of the body,\u201d is it therefore not of the body? And if\nthe ear should say, \u201cBecause I am not an eye, I am not of the body,\u201d is it\ntherefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the\nhearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has\nset the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they\nwere all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many\nmembers, yet one body.\u201d<\/em> If we all had the same talents, blessings and\nspiritual gifts we could not function. Imagine saying, the architect is more\nimportant than the builder. So, if we were all architects, then who would build\nthe house? Or what if we said being a good speaker is more important than being\na good listener. Then who would be listening to us when we speak? Every talent,\nblessing, and spiritual gift is important to complete the cycle of life. It is\nall important for the greater purpose, that is Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusively, we need to remember that we are\nall clay in the Hands of the Potter, moulded for His use. Let us acknowledge\nthat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God\u2019s loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. \u2018For who makes you different from another? And what have you that you did not receive?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talents, Blessings and Spiritual Gifts Part 3 Owe it to God By Ereeny Mikhail God shows us that the differences in our talents, blessings and spiritual gifts are all puzzle pieces that complete a greater purpose. But before we understand the meaning of all this, let\u2019s explore blessings and spiritual gifts. Differently to a talent, … Continue reading “Owe it to God”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[148,438,107],"class_list":["post-6688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-blessing","tag-spiritual-blessing","tag-talent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6690,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688\/revisions\/6690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}