Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:9 & 10 NIV
Soon after I became a Christian, I learned about Spiritual Gifts and found out that my main gift is Serving. The verses in Galatians 6 are some of my favorite life verses because I interpret the words “doing good” as “serving”. Over the years I’ve had great examples of servants in a couple of different churches and also some not so great examples. Some of them served joyfully and sacrificially, but still kept their personal boundaries so they wouldn’t neglect their personal or their family’s needs. Others served themselves to the point where they resented the people they were serving and did not enjoy what they were doing. From their examples, from my own experiences of serving over the years, and a great article by Bill Hybels I’ve come to know (most of the times) when I’m getting to the point of serving too much or when I possibly need to serve a little bit more.
Bill Hybels, a pastor in Chicago, wrote an article called “Reading Your Gauges”. He wrote that he was really good at checking his physical (exercise, eating) and his spiritual (Bible study, journaling, praying, etc.) gauges. What he didn’t realize is that he had a third gauge. Bill Hybels was the main teacher in his church, but Leadership and Evangelism are his two main gifts and teaching is further down the list. He said that it would normally take him 20 hours to prepare a teaching while a person with the main gift of teaching could do the same thing in 5 to 10 hours. One day while preparing a teaching, he started crying for no reason. Since he’s not a crying type of guy he knew something was wrong so he checked his two gauges. “I’m exercising, reading my Bible, praying, journaling, etc. what is wrong with me?” he wondered.
He realized that he hadn’t been doing anything in his main gifts, Leadership and Evangelism, which helped recharge him. So he still kept teaching, but made sure that he added in more time for doing things in his two main gifts.
After I read that article, situations started coming up where I experienced being recharged by serving. I had offered to babysit for some good friends, but I was feeling worn out. I got to the house and made it through feeding the kids, playing with them, reading them a story, and then finally getting them to sleep. All I wanted to do was crash in front of the TV. I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water and noticed that the kitchen was a little messy and the plants needed watering. I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll just water the plants and put all of the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher and then watch TV.” After that was done, I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll just wipe off the counters and then go watch TV.” I started feeling more alive because I was helping my friends. Before they got home, I had even mopped the floor and still had time to watch some TV. I left their house that night recharged.
I love it when people figure out what their spiritual gifts are and learn how to be recharged by using them. If you’d like a copy of the article by Bill Hybels, I’ll be happy to email it to you: kz@h2ohurch.org.
Prayer requests:
- That I would remember to ask people to join me in serving. Sometimes it seems easier and quicker to do something myself, but I might be denying somebody else the joy of serving or learning how to grow in their serving gift.
- That I would not let serving get in the way of other things that I need to do.