Serving Others

Matthew 20:28 says the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Another translation would be: the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

As we look at this verse along with verses 26-27, you find that the focus is not about reaching the top and exert your power and/or authority, but instead to give your life in the service of others, especially for the spiritual good of all people. As you can see, Jesus is advocating the phrase, “it’s not about us!” It’s about others.

Now, let’s look at serving others. Sometimes we want to serve others expecting something in return, or compensation, or to be looked upon as “all that”). That should not be part of our repertoire. The question might be asked, “How do we serve others if Jesus is advocating this?” That’s a legitimate question. And this is what we’re going to talk about for the remainder of this post.

If we’re in Christ and all about doing His will, then His Spirit should be manifested in us. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 talks about gifts that are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit through individual believers: Word of Wisdom (an utterance from the Holy Spirit applying God’s Word or wisdom to a specific situation), Word of Knowledge (an utterance from the Holy Spirit revealing knowledge about people, circumstances, or Biblical truth), Faith (supernatural faith imparted by the Holy Spirit, enabling a Christian to believe God for the miraculous), Healing (restoring someone to physical health by divinely supernatural means), Miracles (divine supernatural power to alter the course of nature, including casting out demons), Prophecy (a special temporary ability to bring a word, warning, exhortation, or revelation from God under the impulse of the Holy Spirit), Discerning of Spirits (special ability to judge whether prophecies and utterances are from the Holy Spirit), Speaking in Tongues (expressing oneself at the level of one’s spirit under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit in a language he or she has not learned and does not know) and Interpretation of Tongues (special ability to interpret what is spoken in tongues – personally: I haven’t met too many people with this gift and sure would love to, because I believe this is needed in the body of Christ). Now, some will have more than one and some will only have one. There’s nothing wrong with that; just don’t sit on that gift. We can express the gifts given to us in multiple ways in the service of others, some can express it behind a pulpit, through the creative arts, and the list can go on. I have concerns when it comes to gifts: 1-when we belittle others when they don’t have the gift that we have, 2-copying what another person does because of the gift that’s in them (not really using your gift) and 3-using a true gift with the wrong motive (not serving others, but to itch ears for the sake of $).

Serving others is for the glory of God, not for our sole benefit. Yes, we will benefit whether on earth or in life eternal, but it’s all about Him and His glory!

Additional scriptures to view if you want to: John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 13; Colossians 3:14; 1 John 3:14 and 4:8.

Protect Your Gift

It’s been a little over a week since the death of Whitney Houston. I’m not glorifying her when I mention her name, but the Lord was dealing with me this past Friday about her. I came home on Friday night from sitting a coffee shop working on my novel and ended up watching ABC’s 20/20. It was a special entitled One Moment In Time: The Life of Whitney Houston.

I don’t know who happen to watch it, but I did. In a short summary, it focused on her entire life (the ups and downs of her life). Over the course of this week, I saw numerous posts on Facebook about her. Some were focusing on the funeral ceremony and some were angry that the media was still talking about the downs of her life. Well, as I watched it, God showed me something and I wonder if anybody else caught the lesson (or we missed it altogether). As we live life, people live and die. It was like that in the Bible days. One thing we tend to miss is that there are lessons to learn through somebody’s life (example: we learn that David was a man after God’s on heart, and that adultery can tarnish your character). This is true about Whitney Houston and this will be the focus of this blogpost.

During her years before releasing her first album in 1985, it was evident that God gave her a gift, and of course, it was her voice (she would be known to the world as “The Voice”). As I watched the part where she was singing in the choir as a teenager, her gift was being used to the fullest and was being perfected. Between 1985 and 1992, she was the icon to the world in the realm of female vocalists. I’ll admit there were times when I was tired of hearing some of the songs she sang (and for those who knew me back in the day, I chose her songs that weren’t so popular). But still, she was blessing many people with her voice.

Many people will have opinions, but I will only focus on her gift for this post. Between 1992 and 2012, her gift was a target for the devil. Notice, I didn’t say Bobby Brown was the cause of her downfall. She has to take full responsibility for this, just like we have to take responsibility for the gift God has given us. Sure, people can influence us to do many things, but the responsibility to protect it lies on us. Just because we have a gift doesn’t mean we’ll always have it. This is what happened to Whitney especially at the turn of the millennium. By the time she appeared on Oprah in 2009, her gift was gone.

Yes, it is a tragedy that her life was cut short, but the lesson that we should’ve gained from Whitney Houston’s life is this: everybody has a unique gift. Instead of trying to compete, use the gift that God has given you, and protect it at all costs because the devil knows how much of an impact your gift will make on other people. If anything, what we are to do with our gift especially if we’re a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a holy nation to show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), is to use it so that others will know that God is with us and more importantly, in us! The purpose is so that others will give praise to God and not give praise to us. This is where we miss it due to the temptation of self-gratification.

Is Your Life On Full?

A few days ago, I posted a comment on Facebook that read: I pray that I don’t get to heaven with my life on full. When I say that, I mean that I don’t want to get to heaven with my life that’s full of unrealized visions, dreams, songs, or businesses that could change the world for the glory of God. Now as you’re reading this, I hope that your prayer is that your life isn’t on full (full of the talents that you know you have that could change the world for the glory of God). God has gifted all of us with certain gifts and talents to make a major impact on the world. Our responsibility is to remain open to His spirit, pray that He will give us His heart (which He will), and that He will fill us up with Him (again, which He will) to be sent out to the nations. There’s no need to compete against each other or to copy each other (because we all are uniquely different).

I would hate for any of us to get to heaven with our life on full due to our complacency (refer to my Complacency & Talents blog from April 18^th, 2011) and say to the master I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the earth (Matthew 25:25). I recommend you read Matthew 25:14-30.

I know this is a short post, but this is something for us all to pray about during the course of this week (and hopefully for the remainder of our lives). God bless.

Complacency & Talents

Complacency, it's the thief that steals our true purpose & destiny.  It can happen to the best of us.  Look at your current job, have you become extremely bitter especially if you've been there a long time and have you noticed the people around you extremely bitter (if they've been there a long time)? Let me add to this, how many of you have heard people complain over and over and still remain complacent with their lives? You've probably heard numerous complaints. 

I hope this blogpost will cause you to rise up from your complacency (or should I say your comfort zone) and you can start fulfilling your purpose before you move to the next phase of life.

In Matthew 25:14-30, there's a parable of the talents. One received 5, one received 2 and one received 1. God gave them a specific number of talents based on their hearts (one thing that must be said, God knows the beginning & end. He knows our hearts and what we're going to do with the talents He's blessed us with. Our responsibility is to be faithful with what He's blessed us with). The one who received 5 acquired 10, the one who received 2 acquired 4 and the one who received 1 buried it and acquired 0. When the giver of the talents had them check-in, the giver was pleased with the first two, but for the one who buried the 1 talent, he was angry and told him to give it to one who acquired 10. Now here's a thought-provoking question, why did he have him do that? Also think about this, if you waste your talent, it will be taken from you. And then you'll end up living a life of regrets. A little side note: there will be some people who will love you when you're not using your talents, and will turn around and hate you when you decide to step out and use your talents. Here's another side note: not everybody will want to break free from the complacency syndrome, because they feel the complacency syndrome is convenient (notice I didn't say comfortable, because they're downright miserable inside).

Let's now talk about you, what talent have you buried? I know a lot of people and many of you have made your talents known to me. And I must ask, what are you doing with them? I beg you not to let them go to waste, because your talent is NOT just for you. Only you can do what you do with the talents that have been bestowed upon you. Now you might think your talent is small, but in God's eyes, it's important! No matter how big or small your talent is it's the ticket to put you where you need to be in your life.

If you were to look at the talents from a monetary standpoint and you bury the talents, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and anger against others, God and yourself. I believe your talents are designed by God for you. Some people say "it takes money to make money," that's not true. I agree with my brother Darrell Kelly when he says this, "it takes creativity to make money," considering that your talents are from God and He's the creator of all things. With that said, are you afraid of stepping out in that talent? Are you afraid that you're going to be rejected? Cast your fears aside or else, you'll land in the complacency cycle (where you start complaining and we have to hear comments like this, "the president or government is not taking care of me, my parents are hindering me" and your life withers away). I simply say to that, you're an adult, please GROW UP and GO FOR IT!

God bless.