What Is My Job Description?
One of my favorite New Testament verses is Ephesians 2:10 (NIV): “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In the original Greek the actual word used for handiwork is poem; we are God’s beautiful poem to the world.
Although we are commanded to do good works sometimes we might wonder exactly what good works the Bible is talking about? Of course there is the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is a byproduct of having a relationship with Jesus. It doesn’t mean we automatically have all those things working in our life but hopefully we are moving in that direction. For instance, I’ve struggled with being patient most of my life, but I’ve made a lot of progress in that area. I’m so thankful God is patient with me!
Let’s talk about those good works we are created to do.
Last week it was my privilege to go on a Mexico mission trip with a group of people from our church. I have a passion for all things missions but I’m not wired to be a missionary. I figured that out years ago after making friends with several missionaries and asking a thousand questions. That doesn’t stop me from doing the occasional mission trip. One thing God has gifted me to do is mobilize people for mission trips and other types of missions locally. I’m not telling you this so you’ll think I’m a great guy but to let you know I learned this about myself through trial and error.
God has gifted every believer with gifts, talents, and abilities to be used to build His kingdom. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people through the years about how to discover their spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts tests are helpful but sometimes they are not very practical. My advice is try different things and see how things pan out. If you volunteer to be a greeter at church and discover it’s not your thing you have narrowed the field of possibilities down and that’s a win.
Early in my Christian walk I tried street evangelism. It was a total fail for me. I discovered I need time to get to know people before I can effectively share the gospel with them.
Have you ever tried leading a Bible study or a Life Group? If you think that’s something you might like, give it a try. You might discover you have a gift for teaching or maybe not, but either way you will learn more about yourself, thus getting a little closer to God’s plan for your life.
I think I’ve learned more from failure than anything. If you’re not afraid to try new things you will learn a lot about yourself. You will also become a stronger and more confident Christ follower. I have a friend who has a gift for making money. He loves making money and supporting ministries. He has given away millions of dollars to churches, orphanages, and numerous non-profit organizations. You have gifts that are waiting to be discovered and used for the glory of God. If you don’t know your job description I encourage you to start experimenting and see where it leads you. One of the greatest feelings in the world is to walk in your giftings and know you are making a difference in a hurting world.
Stay close to Jesus,
Steve
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