Unwrap the Gift

Anyone else accidentally left a gift unopened under the Christmas tree? Sometimes it gets mixed up in the already opened gifts or forgotten when a 'better' present gets unwrapped.

Yet, how often when we finally find it and open it aren't we so glad that we didn't miss out on what was inside?

In the same way God has been showing me how it is so important to unwrap all the gifts God has given us. Not just the gifts that are the biggest or look the prettiest.

You know what I'm talking about. Those gifts you know you were going to get, the ones where you can tell they are going to be good from the packaging. Don’t just open them.

It's like only opening up parts of a puzzle. Every single piece is important and often the seemingly insignificant ones are the most important pieces.

It's only been in the last couple of months as I have begun to explore parts of me that I diminished and hid away, that I began to realise who God truly created me to be.

I realised how picky I had been, that I had selected what I wanted to receive from God rather then embrace what he had given me.

I became aware that sometimes I had even opened a gift but because I was afraid and unsure of how to use it, I had boxed it up and hid it away.

That it was God reminded me of the parable of the talents. I don’t want to be the one who buried his but I want everyone to receive the full blessing attached to the gift God has given me.

‘In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.
If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.’
Romans 12:6-8

I know some of our gifts are easier to steward but don’t give up on the others. It can be so much easier to stay within our comfort zone and pray that somehow we'll figure out what to do with those other wrapped gifts.

But friends you don’t know what you're sitting on, until you open it. You can't use your gift if you don’t unwrap it.

You can't fully walk in your calling, if you don’t use ALL the tools that God has given you.

How many times do we see in the Bible, the most insignificant things being used as vessels for the miraculous? Moses' staff, David's slingshot and stone...  

Those abilities you haven't quite fine-tuned or wish you could just perfect first - God wants to use right now. We need to get out of the mindset that we need to be fully trained to be used by God.  

‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory…’

1 Peter 4:10-11

So stop waiting for fully formed gifts and use the bits and pieces you've already been given.

Once you begin to start operating in your gifting, God has this way of multiplying and increasing your ability far beyond what you could have ever predicted.

So I think it's time you unwrap that gift. You know that one you 'forgot' about, the one that had some ugly wrapping or you weren't sure how to use.

It's time to dust it off, peel back the layers and let God teach you how to steward it.