What We Can Offer
Yesterday, as we reflected on being a community of people, centered on Jesus, devoted to one another, I kept thinking about how different we all are.
We’re from all over the place. We’ve had different life experiences. We work different jobs, have different hobbies, and bring different perspectives to just about everything.
But we also bring different gifts.
Some of us are gifted in music, some in administration, some in hospitality or encouragement. Some of us see something that needs to be done and immediately know how to handle it. Some of us are good at sitting with someone who’s struggling and helping them feel cared for.
And all of those things have a place in the life of this church.
Take me, for example. I love teaching the Bible and shepherding God’s people. It gives me life and purpose. When I can study the Scriptures, talk through questions, and help people follow Jesus, I feel like I’m doing what God created me to do.
Administration, though? That’s a different story.
Keeping all the pieces organized and making sure everything is moving in the right direction takes a lot more effort for me. I can do it when I need to, and I ask God to help me do it well. But it doesn’t come naturally.
And I know there are people in our church who are gifted in those areas. Things that wear me out might actually give someone else energy. And things I love doing might wear someone else out.
That’s part of the beauty of the church. We can bring our different gifts together and be stronger in areas than any one of us could be on our own.
We need one another. And God has given us something to offer one another.
Take a few minutes now to read Romans 12:1–8.
Paul begins by pointing us back to God’s mercy. Everything he’s asking of us grows out of what God has already done for us. That’s where we started this week too. Look up. Look back. Remember who God is and how good He’s been to us.
And in light of that mercy, Paul calls us to offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Our lives become an offering of worship to Him.
That includes the ordinary parts of our lives. Our decisions, relationships, work, time, abilities, and resources. We’re learning to bring all of that before God and ask Him what faithfulness looks like.
We live like Jesus died for us and rose again. We live like the Holy Spirit is alive and active. And as we follow Him, He changes how we think and what we do with the lives we’ve been given.
Then, in verses 3–8, Paul gives us this picture of one body with different members. We have different gifts and different things to contribute. And in verse 5, he says that “each member belongs to all the others.”
We belong to one another.
That’s worth slowing down and thinking about. God has brought us together, and what He’s given each of us can help strengthen and care for the rest of us.
I think about our kids’ ministry.
For a while, it was Marissa’s thing. Then it was Marissa and Katie’s thing. And now there’s a whole group of people helping teach our kids, care for them, and show them that Jesus loves them.
People have stepped in with different abilities, different ideas, and different ways of connecting with the kids. And something that used to be carried by one person is becoming something we carry together.
And man, that’s beautiful.
That’s what we want to keep seeing throughout the life of our church. People bringing what God has given them and helping carry this thing together.
But there’s a step between knowing we have something to offer and actually offering it.
We might know we’re good at something. We might even enjoy doing it. But using it to serve someone else takes time and attention. Sometimes it means making room in our week or rearranging something we’d planned.
That’s part of offering our lives to God. We ask Him how to use what we have, and then we’re willing to act on it.
And if we’re thinking, “I don’t know what my gifts are,” that’s okay. Sometimes we figure those things out by getting involved. We try something. We help someone. Someone notices something in us that we hadn’t noticed ourselves.
We can ask God to help us see those things. And we can help one another recognize them too.
Even as we’re praying through the finances of our church, we’re all coming to that conversation from different financial positions and different places in life. Some of us have more room in our budgets. Some of us are trying to figure out groceries, heating bills, and everything else that keeps getting more expensive.
For some of us, our contributions might be larger. For others, they might be smaller.
But a larger amount doesn’t automatically mean greater faithfulness. God knows what we have. He knows what we’re carrying. And He knows the posture of our hearts.
In 2 Corinthians 8:12, Paul reminds the church that willing giving is received according to what someone has, rather than what they don’t have.
So we can come before God honestly. We can look at our circumstances, ask what we’re able to give, and consider whether there are places where we could make room to give.
Then we can make a plan and follow through.
And if we’re struggling to meet our own needs, we need to be able to say that too. We belong to one another. There are times when we help carry someone else’s need, and there are times when we need help carrying our own.
So today, let’s bring our lives before God.
Thank Him for His mercy. Thank Him for the gifts He’s brought together in this church. And ask Him what we can offer to this life we share.
Maybe there’s something we’re good at that could help someone else. Maybe there’s a place we could serve or a responsibility we could help carry. Maybe there’s time or money we could begin setting aside more intentionally.
We don’t each have to carry everything. But we can each ask God what part He’s calling us to carry.
This is our church. This is the life we’re sharing. And we’re learning to bring what God has given us and carry it together.
So today, let’s bring our lives before God. Thank Him for His mercy and for the gifts He’s brought together in this church.
Here’s three things I’m praying through today. Maybe you can join me in that.
God, help us recognize what You’ve given us. What gifts and abilities can we bring into the life of this church? Help us see those things in ourselves and encourage them in one another.
God, help us make room to serve. Where could we offer our time, attention, or abilities? Give us willing hearts to take the next step and follow through.
God, show us what faithful generosity looks like in our own circumstances. Help us consider honestly what we can give, trust You with what we’re carrying, and be willing to receive help when we need it.
We don’t each have to carry everything. But we can each ask God what part He’s calling us to carry.
This is our church. This is the life we’re sharing. And we’re learning to bring what God has given us and carry it together.
