December 16: 1Peter 1-5

Useless/Useful

Scripture: 1Peter (NIV) 4: 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

Observation: Everyone has received gifts, talents that make us useful in life. These are gifts, given and not earned. We may have worked to develop them, but they are likes, tendencies, and abilities that came with birth. They have been given to us to make us useful to others. They are not primarily for our benefit, but for the benefit of others.

Application: God did not design me to be selfish but selfless. He has equipped me to serve others and equipped others to serve me. I am discovering that I am mutually dependent on the other members of the body of Christ. To keep myself away from the fellowship (church) is to withhold the benefit I can give as well as the benefit I can receive. I hurt others as I am robbing them of the benefit they could otherwise receive from me. I hurt myself as I am robbing myself of the benefit I could otherwise receive from them.

Prayer: Lord, it is a terrible thing to feel useless. Work in me an attitude that makes me useful. Amen.

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!