I recently received a powerful reminder about the importance of using the spiritual gifts you’ve been entrusted with.
Coming home from work within the past couple of weeks, I drove right into a traffic jam. It was a road I’d driven a thousand times before, but this time the traffic stopped and barely moved. Sirens behind me drew my attention to my side-view mirrors, and I could see cars pulling off to the side to let emergency vehicles through.
Things weren’t totally shut down yet, so there was enough movement for us all to slowly merge into a single lane of traffic. Between the light at the next intersection and something going on up ahead, progress was slow. As I finally came around a bend in the road, I saw fire trucks with lights flashing, blocking most of the intersection. Lots of firefighters were out of the trucks, walking around, and one of them knelt next to a guy lying on the ground. A motorcycle lay on the ground a little further up the road.
As I neared the front of the line, a vehicle blocked most of my view of the guy who had been involved in the accident, but I could still see his feet. All I could see were his jeans and his work boots. I sat there wondering about the details of what had happened, when another firefighter, not in a hurry, came out and stood at the fellow’s feet, opened up a sheet, and spread it over the man lying on the ground.
Talk about a wake-up call!
I’d like to share two things with you today. The first is that life is precious; it’s fleeting, it’s fragile, and it’s over quickly. I’m sure that guy didn’t wake up thinking it would be his last day on Earth.
The second is more important. As Christians, we’re equipped with spiritual gifts, and the world is dying for us to use them. You don’t know how much time you’ve got left to put them to use. Don’t take your gifts to Heaven; Heaven doesn’t need them.
Between the time I write this and the time the post goes live, there will be countless additional tragedies around the world. I don’t know what the Lord has planned for your life if you accept His invitation to be used in His kingdom, but maybe you can prevent, mitigate, or bring comfort in the midst of some of those tragedies. I’m sure that sometime in the past few days, you’ve either personally been involved with, or you’ve heard about some unfortunate or terrible event in the news. Wherever you are, please take a moment to pray for comfort for the loved ones of those involved, and for the Holy Spirit to show you how you should put your spiritual gifts into action. The world shouldn’t have to wait for us any longer.