Men's Ministry - Outdoor Connection Ministries

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June 15, 2009 - The Gifts Within

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, I will write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of us, for I must correct your misunderstandings about them." I Corth. 12 LB

I believe that we can't effectively teach someone about discipleship until we discover their spiritual gifts and worldly passions. These two hidden traits help a "discipler" to effectively motivate and direct a person in the "way God has equipped that person for service" (Prov. 22:6)

In both I Cor. 12 and Romans 12 we read about the importance of identifying the Spiritual Gifts of others. As we seek to "Know God and Make Him Known" we are better equipped to detect our Spiritual Gifts and the Gifts of those individuals we come into contact with. It matters not a person's station in life, their social of political standing, how much fame, fortune or power they have. If God has placed someone in our lives then we have the responsibility to encourage that person in love and grace.

Some excerpts from 1 Corth. 12 remind us, "Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving… There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church." 1 Corth. 12

Some of the most valuable things we can discover are within the heart and soul of a person. This little story reminds us about the importance of really knowing the inner-truths or core values that shapes a person's heart.

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up clay and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. Excited the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure.

He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left, then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he just threw it away.

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it, we see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person by God. There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see people as God sees them.

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