Gifts

Today I was reminded in a devotional that we all have been given gifts, some gifts are more prominent than others, but God has given us these gifts to not just make us who we are, but so that we can use the gifts to bring Him glory.

If you will recall the Bible story about Samson in Judges 16. God gave Samson a gift of strength, but with that gift a secret about it. With his hair came strength and Samson was to keep his hair and in doing so would be strong. He also had a human condition, that was lust for women. God knew that Samson had the human condition, but God also knew that if Samson was to honor God, he had to forget his human condition in order to bring God glory. Samson took his eyes off of God and focused them on women and in doing so, he gave into the human condition and soon it ruled him. He was convinced that feeding his flesh would bring him happiness, but it did not, because he like Eve gave into the devils temptations and was stripped of his strength. The devil is a master deceiver and we can see how he works, the devil promises happiness and the result is misery.

God knew what Samson would do, but He gave him a choice. It was to stand for God or to give into the human condition. We too have the choice each day, we can use the gifts that God has given us to grow His kingdom or we can give into the human condition. We see that just as Samson gave into the lust of the flesh which brought him defeat, just as if we give into the devil, he will use it to destroy us. God turned around for His glory in the end, because they forgot with the growth of his hair came his strength and they were defeated.

We too have the choice each day to bring God glory or we can give into the human condition to lust, greed, control, lying, intolerance and so much more, or we can use what God has given us and see that the gift is in the use, not in ourselves. God will have the glory in the end, but isn't it better if all we do points to God in the now?

Today are you using the gifts God has given you? I speak to myself too in this. God has given me a gift of writing, it isn't because I read a lot of books when I was young, but because God is greater than anything that I was diagnosed with young. He will have the glory and not myself, but His will be done, His kingdom come.