Use Your Gifts

Use Your Gifts

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.

Romans 12:6

My husband is a drummer. You will often find him absentmindedly tapping out rhythms on any available surface as he concentrates on whatever task is before him. Music, to him, is like oxygen to the rest of us. He creates playlists for every possible occasion, and his musical selections are both wide-ranging and of impeccable taste.

It was years ago when he first put together a playlist for someone outside our immediate family. We did not know her well, but she was going through a difficult time, and my husband gifted her a playlist of worship music. Over the years, my husband has quietly slipped individually curated playlists of worship music to people he has met in a variety of settings.

He is bold in sharing his love of Jesus through music in a way I’ve never seen anyone else do and would never have contemplated doing myself. When he discovered that a new coworker was battling cancer early this past fall, he sent her a playlist and an encouraging note. She died this past December, and my husband attended the wake. As he was standing in the long and winding receiving line, he tuned in to the music playing softly in the background. He found himself enjoying the music and then realized it was the playlist he had put together for her.

In speaking with her family, he learned how much she had loved the music he gave her, how she had played and replayed that playlist in the months before she died, and how she had selected that music for her wake.

As my husband quietly relayed the story to me that evening, I realized, once again, that God uses my husband’s love of music to enable him to share his faith in a way that is beautifully unique. Romans 12:6 reminds us that God gives us different gifts for our various roles in his Kingdom. The question is, how are you using your God-given gifts to further his Kingdom?

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Think about what you love to do, and identify one way you can use it to show Jesus’ love to someone else.