It's IN You

Kayla George
Jul 12, 2016
3 min read

2 Timothy 1:1-7

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Genesis 2:7

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Our God does everything with beauty and splendor.

So why would he make us- humans, his most prized possession, beings in his likeness- out of dirt? If God could make the streets in Heaven out of gold, and the gates of Heaven out of pearls, why did he choose to make us out of dirt? Dirt is the only thing that a seed can be planted into. You can't plant a seed in a diamond or in gold or in a pearl. A seed has been planted in each one of us; a gift that we are destined to use to fulfill our purpose. Our job is to stir up what God has planted inside of us. When you stir it up, you can find a gift inside.

The tragedy of life is not death, but what dies inside of us while we were still alive. God would not give you a call on your life without giving you a gift. The two most important days in your life are not your birth and your death, but your birth and the day you find out why you were born. We have to be God's representative in everything we are called to do.

What is your gift? Here are five questions to ask yourself to find your gift.

1. What do you like to do that can be used to glorify God?

2. What would you do for free?

3. What do other people notice or see in you?

4. What is something that comes easy to you that is difficult for others to do?

5. What frustrates you?

Your frustration is your indication of where you are called to be. If you are frustrated about how something is not working right or doesn't sound good, you can't get frustrated; you were sent to that place to do it yourself.

The enemy hates people who find what their gift is. There are three entities that are after our gift:

1. God

2. the enemy

3. other people

God wants our gift because he wants a return on the gift that he's given us.

The enemy wants our gift to remind us of our sin and shame. He also wants our gift to tell us that we should use our gift for ourselves.

Other people want your gift because they are jealous of you.

You might start showing God what you show other people- show your best and hide the mess. We are wrestling with the complexity of our gift and our dirt. True freedom is when you take your gift and your dirt and place it in the hands of God. Life is really predicated on whose hands you put it in.