This is a wonderful passage and should mean something special to each of us. Walk through any self help section in a book store, and maybe even the spirituality and religion section and I will bet that you will see titles that say directly or implicitly "Being a better you" or "being the best you", or "better you 2.0" and there is nothing wrong with these books I'm sure, but there's also a good chance they are really missing something important, and that's being the godly you!
I know being godly may have connotations; some good and perhaps some not so much. And honestly, being godly is probably different for each person, as it should be. But to me, being godly means getting closer to being the person that God intends you to be. And since we are made in God's own image, it makes sense that we should ALWAYS be God-ly. Let me tell you a quick story from my past that may help shed some light on this.
When I was still in grade school, I went to summer church camp for a week each summer. The camp is Lutheran and is called Bear Creek Camp, up in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. I loved going to Bear Creek. I started going in middle school, and grew more and more fond of that place each year, and I still hold it in a special place in my heart. Towards the end of my Bear Creek days, we were out on our 2 night overnight in the middle of the woods with 12 older high school students and 2 young adult counselors. They devised an activity that was to be team building and to keep us "busy" (and the counselors sane) for several hours. The activity itself doesn't really matter but here's what does. We as a group were facing a challenge. I had sometimes felt God encouraging me to be a leader, but I never paid it much attention. With the challenge in front of us, I suddenly just knew what we had to do, I saw the solution, and I was able to describe to my fellow campers, my friends, just what we needed to do, and how we should do it. I realized the best solution meant we all had to use our different gifts. We needed some physically strong people, we needed a small, agile person, we need supporters and some tall people. Each of us had a job, a specific role, that really could only be filled based on specific attributes or qualities. I was bringing all the gifts together in a cohesive plan. I was leading, and I was leading well. Long story short, we solved the challenge within about 20 minutes, and on the first try. It didn't take us hours, and we did a good job. I was able to lead because 1)God has given me the gift of leadership 2) I felt like I could really be the REAL me around my co-campers 3) and the people I was leading trusted me.
I loved Bear Creek of course because of the beauty, the friends, the memories, but most importantly because I felt Godly! I felt closer to the person that God intended me to be. In this example, I didn't try to be all things in the solution, I was just the leader, but it took a team of people that cared about one another!
Does any of this sound familiar?!Read the passage again. We each have gifts, and thank God, we all have different gifts! If we can express and use these gifts, these attributes, these qualities in ways that glorify the Lord, that bring us all closer together we will find GREAT success.
What are your gifts? What are the circumstances that allow you to BEST use those gifts. Do you feel God present, literally WITH you when you are using them, might you even feel godly?! By recognizing our own gifts and abilities and those around us in others, we begin to mature and grow closer together in unity of using our gifts together! When we allow our godly selves to shine, we grow more and more Christ like, and this is a very good thing!
So we pray,
Dear Holy God, you give me so many gifts, so many talents, so many abilities. God help me to remember that not I or anyone else possess all abilities. Remind me God that I need to use only the gifts you've given me, and help me recognize my gifts, and the gifts of others. I pray God that I grow in my faith and that you use me, with the help and support of others, to bring more to you, and to bring you glory, honor and love!
AMEN!
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