A respected Bible teacher says: ‘Because my family’s so large, we draw names to see who we’ll buy presents for. One Christmas when I opened my present, I was disappointed…then I looked at my twin brother who got two nice gifts. Sensing my disappointment, my wife came over to me and said, “Don’t worry. When we get home, we’ll exchange it for something you like better.” The same thing happens in the Body of Christ. We open the gifts God has given us and immediately run to someone else to see what he or she received…When we look at our gift…we’re unhappy…and immediately think…“I know…I’ll swap it for something I like better.” That’s why there are so many people running around claiming to be an apostle or a prophet or a teacher…They’re gift-swapping.’ You don’t get to decide what gift God gives you. God ‘put all the parts…in the body as he wanted them’. Sometimes it takes years for you to recognise your gift and start operating in it. Instead of envying another person’s gift, be thankful for your own and ask God to use it to bless as many people as possible. And if you have questions about it, search the Scriptures. Paul said, ‘God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable’ (Romans 11:29 NIV); ‘God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well’ (Romans 12:6 TLB); ‘Each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that’ (1 Corinthians 7:7 NIV); ‘The Spirit decides what to give each person’ (1 Corinthians 12:11 NCV). So, use the gift God gave you.
