Using our gifts

Often we act as if pleasure is to be found in those times we don't have to do 'work'. However, it strikes me that actually there are few things more enjoyable than finding something you can do well and then doing it. So for example most people who enjoy pub quizzes are coincidentally those people who are good at it, most people enjoy the sports they are good at more than those they are not, most people who are really into playing music and getting better at it are those with some natural aptitude, basically we enjoy doing things we are good at.

The Bible says that this is the way we were created. God created us with different gifts (to be good at different things) and he created us to enjoy using those gifts. Even if we were perfect there would still be stuff for us to do and so our satisfaction and pleasure is not to be found in doing nothing but rather in doing the work God has prepared us to do.

I have become aware that all too often I try to avoid doing the work God has given me to do believing that doing nothing will bring me more pleasure it doesn't. However, all too often the work we do doesn't bring pleasure either. Now all work will at times be difficult and unenjoyable but often I wonder if this is the case more often than strictly necessary because we haven't taken the time to think about what gifts God has given us to use.

At our church we are going to run a course to help us all identify what gifts God has given us and how we can use them. The temptation is to think that this course is one to be avoided because identifying gifts sounds scary and because at the end of it we'll only end up doing more stuff and therefore having a worse life. I need to remind myself that the use of these gifts will not lead to a worse life because God made us with gifts and that using these gifts is the very thing God created us for. I hope I find that I've got some good gifts and that I can find myself ways to use them for God's glory, other people's benefit and my enjoyment!