God has entrusted specific abilities to each of us. For those who have been chosen to receive the gift of faith, God has prepared specific good works for us to perform- Ephesians 2:10. God's command to us is to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself- Mark 12:30-31.
In other words, we should strive to do the maximum amount of good to the maximum amount of people as our worship and obedience to Christ.
Why should we continually examine our lives in relation to our God-given abilities? Because God has called us to excellence. He has called us to be ministers of His grace and truth. He has called us to give the world a glimpse of heaven where we will learn, grow and realize our potential as perfected stewards of our unique design, talents and abilities.
I have read that only 10% of workers feel that they are performing work that is a good match with their abilities. Considering that we spend over 100,000 hours working in our lives, this is a tragedy. We are not meant to waste our life in this way. One of the most important priorities is to hunt for what we are best at and to find purposeful work that is a match for these strengths. I am not referring to working only for income. Managing a household is work in my book.
Here are some questions to ask ourselves as we are setting goals for the use of our God-given abilities to perform good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do.
- What am I most passionate about?
- What have others said that I excel at?
- What are the things that I do that feed my energy rather than drain it?
- How can I sharpen my skills to maximize the natural abilities I have been given?
- What areas do I need to commit to prayer so that God can fully use me?
- If I could design my ideal job, what would it look like?
We should set goals for the stewardship of abilities. Create a mission statement. Think about how to execute that mission. Eliminate distractions. Avoid or delegate work that you do not do well. Play to your strengths. Manage around your weaknesses. Focus, focus, focus. We have one life to make a difference on the destiny of souls.
Read books about how to find your calling if you don't feel that you have a grasp on what it is. I have listed some resources that have helped me under the Abilities section of my website: http://stewardshipmandate.com.
Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
For His Glory,
Ashley Hodge
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