Lent 19 The Gifts of Helps and Serving

[HKHaugan]

“Don’t ask me to lead or to speak. They make me uncomfortable. But if you have something you would like to get done I will be glad to help.” That particular attitude can be the result of a lack of confidence, a lack of faith or it may be a true reflection of a gift that is necessary to get a job done. The gift of helps (1Cor.12:28) emerges when someone in the Body is anxious to serve the Lord and just appears whenever a project starts. They don’t want to be noticed, praised or rewarded. They enjoy just being there in the Body assisting in whatever is necessary to get something going. It may be setting up chairs and tables or cleaning up after a gathering or greeting new people. Their presence is usually unrecognized and that doesn’t bother them. But you can be sure of one thing,---they always show up.

There are so many outlets for this gift. Picking up older and physically challenged people who can’t drive and taking them to church. Assisting in food collection and distribution. Doing the odd tasks that require time and energy like mailings, phone answering, rearranging rooms and furniture for meetings, doing the legwork and all the other behind-the-scenes practical activities that help the Body to function better. I’m sure you can add a lot more. But ask yourself if this is your gift. If it is,---make yourself available.

A parallel but slightly different gift is that of serving (Rom.12:7). What makes this gift unique is that of self-offering in a specific way. All of us are born with talents. Talents are not spiritual gifts but natural born abilities in areas like art, drama, music, dance, design, intellectual and academic skills, science, mathematics, athletics and business. It is when you consciously put the specific talent at the disposal of the Lord to serve Him in the Body. When a talent is spiritualized it is marked by a satisfaction and desire to lift the Lord up through it. That inner drive to serve the Lord and the Body is definitely the Spirit’s leading.

Consider both these gifts as avenues to activate faith in action. Test them in a small group and pray about them. Get some counsel from others as to your feeling about them. Or just go ahead and let these gifts fit where you are led.

“Would you do me a favor, friends, and give special recognition to the family of Stephanas? You know, they were among the first converts in Greece, and they've put themselves out, serving Christians ever since then. I want you to honor and look up to people like that: companions and workers who show us how to do it, giving us something to aspire to (1Cor.16:15-16).”

More gifts….stay tuned………