Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2023-02-08
Click for Audio
Moses said, I’m not ready…God said, What’s in Your Hand?
Pastor Brian spoke to us about the story of Moses and God’s conversation in Exodus 4:2. God asked Moses, “What is in your hand?” God was not only asking Moses about a physical object. He was asking him to look at the gifts and abilities that he had, and God would make up the
difference. If God calls you, God will equip you and provide a way.
We all have gifts and abilities that God has given us. It is up to us to decide how we will use them and, more importantly…If we will use them. We can use them selfishly for our own gain, or we can use them to serve God and make a positive difference in the world for Him. Because we have been made by Jehovah for the purpose of a relationship with God, we have within us a desire to seek God. We yearn to know our Creator, we desire his goodness, and we are drawn toward the purpose for which we have been made. One way that our current culture reflects this desire for God is through a universal longing for such things as truth, justice, goodness, and love. Even as our culture tries to push God out of the picture, it still exhibits a longing for the perfection of those attributes that belong to him. The desire for justice can be seen by the display of yard signs containing quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King and in our
country’s current discussions about race.
At the same time, our lack of ability to fully experience these virtues is the result of our fallen human nature. We don’t exhibit these qualities in their perfected form. Yet we are called to work out our faith. In Philippians 2:12, Paul wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That phrase is quoted a lot, but I wonder how many of us
have ever stopped to consider what it actually means.
He wasn’t speaking to an individual here but the church…the community as a whole. So, when we say to someone, “Well, you have to work out your own salvation, and I have to work out mine,” we are saying something COMPLETELY different than Paul was saying. We work out OUR salvation collectively, by being of one mind and humbly submitting to one another. This is not something that can be done individually, it can only be done in the context of a church
family.
That means we are to be part of a family, contribute to our family…use the gifts and talents God gave us to shine the light of his love through us to others, thereby completing the calling to make disciples in all nations. We are to use what God gave us. Including our mistakes to discourage others to not make the same errors, through the power of his Holy Spirit. To use your lessons of faith, forgiveness, patience, and love in whatever measure you have to lift up your brethren to a deeper faith in Christ. And in so doing … even more blessings will fall back on you. You can
never outgive God.
Only in God do we find ultimate truth, supreme goodness, and perfect justice. Only in a relationship with him do we experience the true meaning of love. When we do that, we also find ourselves in relationships with other like believers. The world around us provides evidence of the transcendental attributes of God, yet we don’t experience them fully. We catch marvelous glimpses of God, but we don’t yet see the full picture. As Scripture says, “Eye has not seen, and
ear has not heard” the fullness of God’s wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:9).
We can’t even look in the mirror at what talents or gifts we have and make a positive assessment…Too often, we see our glass as half full, and that we are not ready, we don’t have
the knowledge or skill set.
But God was not stingy in giving us all a unique set of gifts and abilities. Therefore, He has called each of us to a unique calling to fulfill his purpose. Just as God asked Moses to use what he had in his hand, He is asking us to use the gifts and abilities He has given us to accomplish
what He has called us to do.
We may not always understand why we have been given certain gifts and abilities or why God has asked us. We can’t even explain the why of some of the meetings we have in our lives. Coincidences… I don’t think so. I think we should start examining our days and looking deeper at these supposed serendipitous meetings and occasions when God just might use us if we would
but step in a little further and use what he put in our hands.
Waymaker
