Equipped To Excel

.…… His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…(2 Peter 1:3, NKJV)

Apostle Peter in sending out greetings to the saints, starts off by reminding us of the provisions that God has made available to us, which give us multiplied grace and peace in our lives. The salutation of this chapter is heartwarming as it encourages us to stand from a point of our knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord. In the midst of the changing environment and loud voices of economically hard times globally, not to mention the pandemic and emergencies like Climate Change, we are reminded by Paul to be anchored in who we know we are in our God. It is a worthy exhortation of hope and assurance.

God has not only taken care of our salvation but has also given us all what we need for godly living in an environment which often challenges our walk of faith.  I like the word ALL in that sentence, as nothing has been left out, forgotten or assumed; Nothing is unexpected and everything needed is provided for. This is not the result of an afterthought by God; It is in His perfect plan for us, equipped with His promises, to help us overcome the wiles of the enemy of our faith despite our life in a fallen world (2 Peter 1:4). God has it all planned out; He indeed has gone ahead and laid a table for us in advance of our appearance on earth.  He tells Prophet Jeremiah, that He ordained him a prophet even before He formed him (Jeremiah 1:5). We also are reminded that individually and collectively, we have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God had prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesian 2;10). That speaks to me of predestination and therefore appropriate equipping for the task that we are set to achieve for God.

The Father not only had a purpose and plan for your creation, but He also equipped you in His divine power to fulfill that purpose according to His will. He does not call us to serve His purpose and then leave us to our own devices; He equips us with gifts and talents which fit into what He had prepared for us. It is upon us to identify and establish the gifts that we possess. At times we need to attend courses for identification of talent - let us do whatever it is we need to do as we seek an awareness of our gifts and talents, recognizing that no gift of talent is too small or worthless. The talents and gifts are specific to each one of us and copying others will not do, as God does not mass-produce us like in factories, but always works on each one as an original. We learn that even identical twins do not have the same fingerprints - they may look alike but there are unique differentiators in their bodies and personalities and God sees them as individuals, each having a unique purpose and with a singular identity.

Our Father is generous with His gifts and callings for our lives. Once He has given us both of them, He does not take them back (Romans 11:29). He also lets us use them as we choose through freewill, whether we use it for His glory or not. While He leaves us to decide how we use His gifts to us, He has an expectation on us which is His original purpose as determined for each individual on earth. When we carry out His purposes with our gifts and serve Him and others as we should, He perfects our gifts by His power and in His mercy and He even opens doors of opportunities for us through these gifts (Proverbs 18:16). It is in the consistency and excellence of how we use our gifts that allows God to make a way for our provisions as well as define our impact for His glory.

As a body of Christ, we serve each other and the church through our gifts (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Let us be reminded that we will excel best when we work with authenticity in our area of blessings, and that copying what others do will never give full satisfaction and excellence, as each one of us is uniquely qualified for his/her calling in his/her area of influence and expected impact. We therefore must be authentic even in the expression of our gifts. God expects us to use what He has put in us, not what we can copy from others. Our true value to and in Him, can only be expressed in authenticity.

Thoughts:

What are the gifts that God has entrusted in your hands for His church?

How are you using your gifts and talents to live a godly life?

Are you being authentic with your gifts?