Online Devotions: Using Your Gifts As Intended

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Using Your Gifts As Intended

September 4 (Ezekiel 16:17)

You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. (ESV)

What have you done with the gifts God has given you? When Israel took the blessings of the Lord and misused them, He did not have kind things to say about it. Oh, maybe He meant something else, you say. Maybe God did not really mean to use…that word.

Consider for a moment what a whore does. A whore, or a prostitute, takes certain abilities and traffics in them solely for the money, and in this regard, it is entirely possible for any one of us to prostitute the gifts God has given us, to use our talents and abilities solely for our pleasure and profit without any regard for their intent or the will of Him Who gave them to us. This does not mean we cannot use those gifts to earn a living, but are we using them for no other purpose? Are we selling ourselves to the highest bidder with no thought for how God wants to work through us?

God uniquely made you. He did not give you the same gifts He gave me. While He wants the same worship and devotion from all of us, He wants each of us to live out our amazing roles in His story according to the uniqueness of our nature. I do not want to take the glorious gifts He has given me and sell them on the cheap for the quick thrill of money or promotion or fame. I want to use them to their fullest, developing them and employing them ever more to His glory. What about you?

Father, You have blessed me with physical and mental abilities, talents of creativity, and gifts of the Spirit. Guide me in the use of all of them, not just a few, but all of them to serve Your people and draw them closer to You. May all I do, say, and think be ever Your glory. In the name of the risen Jesus, I pray. Amen.

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History of Online Devotions

In January of 1999, I began the Online Devotions with the teens of the church we were attending. Each week they would receive a verse of Scripture, a short reflection, and a prayer. Over the years others subscribed to this email list, and soon the Online Devotions were going out to people across the country and beyond.

In 2007 I published in book format a collection called Desert Days: Forty Devotions for Men.

After suggestions from several readers, I launched in 2010 the Online Devotions blog. Devotions are still available each week by email, and if you would like to subscribe, please indicate so in the comment box.

As I have always said, if one of these devotions touches you, you can be sure it was from God. If one leaves you flat, then there was too much of me in it.