We each have God-given abilities for certain tasks in the Body.
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Do Your Own Thing
• Greg Boyd
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We each have God-given abilities for certain tasks in the Body. These are the gifts referred to in Romans 12:3-8.
Biblical authority relates to the fact that each member of the Body naturally has a gift (or gifts) in something. We are to do what comes naturally to us, not to try and plug into a ministry we weren’t meant for. Our gifts should lead us a compatible ministry. This is Biblical, but goes against some church tradition.
Our gifts belong to the other members of the Body, not to ourselves. This is the way in which God’s grace is administered. A gift-based ministry is one that let’s each member do their gifts. Only then can it be a grace-based ministry.
It is also important to remember that a gift is something you have, it is not something you are. When your identity is in Christ, and not in the gifts, you can take constructive criticism about your particular giftedness.
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Focus Scripture:
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Romans 12: 3-8
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
