God does not gather His church together just to be inspired. Christianity is not a spectator sport. Christians have not been called to be merely pew sitters and sermon tasters.

We were put on earth to contribute, not just to consume. Not only to get the most out of life, but to “add” to life, to give something back.

The apostle Peter wrote, “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11, NRSV).

This passage tells us a great reality—each of us has a gift. The word that the Bible uses here for gift is charisma. It means you have a competency or a set of competencies that have been given to you by God. This means that every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior has everything that is needed to fulfill God’s purpose for their life.

I’ve been told that some churches in China welcome new believers by saying, “Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with.”

Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (NIV). Clearly, the success of God’s purpose lived out through our life is not based on our liabilities or limitations: 

Abraham was old. Jacob was insecure. Leah was unattractive. Joseph was abused. Moses stuttered. Samson was codependent. Rahab was immoral. David was the runt of the family and had all kinds of family problems.

Elijah was suicidal. Jeremiah was depressed. Jonah was reluctant. John the Baptist was eccentric, to say the least. Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered. Martha worried a lot. The Samaritan woman had several failed marriages.

Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Timothy was timid, and Paul had what he called a “thorn in his flesh,” which he prayed three times for God to remove but God choose to leave it. That is quite a list of misfits, but God used each of them powerfully.

God told Paul that every time he used his gifts to serve people, this “thorn in the flesh” would remind him that “God’s grace is sufficient, for God’s power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

So, our gift, or set of competencies, is not based upon our liabilities or limitations. It is based on God’s grace when He gave us our gifts.

For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian’s life. It is why we’ve been given gifts. In fact, it could be said that a “non-serving Christian” is a contradiction.

Jesus said, “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, The Living Bible). Jesus came “to serve” and “to give”— and those two verbs should define our life on earth, too.

Often, we’re more interested in “serve us” than “service.” We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” rather than, “I’m looking for a place and space to serve and be a blessing.”

God has gifted and empowered us with the hope that we will change the subject from “Who’s going to meet my needs?” to “Whose needs can I meet?”