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Have you ever found yourself in a housing development, not being able to find an address? You know the address is somewhere in a cul-de-sac but have no clue which house or business it is. Even if you are using the Waze app on your phone, you have the address but you just can't find it. The app has the ability to help you find your way, but, at some point it's useless.
What particular abilities has God given you? When God formed you together before you were born, and when He made you new in Christ, He chose gifts for you -- special resources, experiences and abilities for you to practice in your spiritual walk. Do you believe that? If so, do you know what they are? Can you name some specific ways you're striving to use them and grow in them?
The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Church this in I Corinthians 12:4-7, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one, there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit."
The reality is that while all of us have potential for doing good, not all of us realize that potential. Some squander the miraculous and personal gifts of God. Those gifts get lost in the cul-de-sacs of their walk with Christ. The Apostle Paul gives us a hint how that happens in Romans 12:1-8.
Could it be you are lost on Pride Boulevard. Selfishness blinds us to the needs of others, we might squander our gifts because we think too highly of ourselves. Romans 12:3 says, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."
Sometimes gifts spoil because we're too focused on self; other times, because we think the needs we might meet are below us. We assume we're too gifted for quiet, ordinary, thankless love. Pride inflates our heads, lifting us out of reality and making real needs seem small, even trivial, next to our conceited priorities. God-given abilities, however, suffocate at that altitude.
Sometimes we get lost in the cul-de-sac Wilderness Lane. This is the easiest and may be the most prevalent and subtle: worldliness. We waste or misuse our gifts because we prize and prioritize what the world does, rather than seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's far too easy to fall in line with the crowds casually strolling away from the cross.
"Do not be conformed to this world," Paul warns, "but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
When our hearts are in all the wrong places, it's no wonder when our gifts, our time, our attention, our resources, and our abilities, consistently land in the wrong places (or never land at all). Those who use their gifts well reject what the world would teach them to do with their gifts. They carry and spend their gifts where God leads them through His word, prayer, and the fellowship of other believers.
Another cul-de-sac along the road of life on planet earth for the Christian is Passivity Street. How many God-given abilities shrivel because we're too preoccupied or insecure or lazy to even try? We had an impulse to serve in this way or that, but we kept putting it off. We knew that person might need a call or a visit, but we assumed someone else would reach out. We heard the church was looking for someone to cover that base, but we kept finding excuses to stay in the dugout. Again, the Apostle Paul says, "We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully." (Romans 12:6-8)
Being gifted in these ways doesn't mean you're more gifted than everyone else or that God doesn't expect us all to teach and serve and exhort (and give and lead in various ways); it just means that there's evidence God has given you greater measures of grace in certain areas to meet the needs of others. Whatever experience or ability God has assigned to you, start using it.
If your gifts have wandered into a cul-de-sac, it's not too late to revive them and put them to use. Lay aside the pride, selfishness, worldliness and passivity that devour what God has given you. Liberate your gifts from the cul-de-sacs that suppress them. Identify something you do well by God's grace and ask Him to help you find a need to meet.
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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week's column comes from Pastor Mark Riley, of Flemington First Church of Christ.