Serve God naturally according to our gifts

I admit I did not always want to be a preacher.  There were some ministers I have known, especially in my youth, who may not have been great men of God.  I asked plenty of questions, and some who I thought had the knowledge, had answers that were not good enough for me.  I wanted to be other things in life, and I trained for them. This training becomes a journey, and that’s why I went to Ball State University. Elias and the rest of us started the unofficial LSC fraternity, too. You are reading part of that effort. Eventually, the only way I could find the answers to my questions was to become a preacher myself, and I hold myself responsible for the children who demand answers from me, in light of today’s changing times.

Each of us needs to serve the Lord according to the gifts that God have us, but life isn’t as simple as all that. Some people come from a long line of ministers and get into the real thing in Seminary, only to find their real purpose in life is in music, acting, writing, sports, medicine or making golf clubs for pros.  Each of us has a purpose in earth, and that purpose changes over time. Our presence may have different purposes for different people at the same time. That is the glorious mystery of God, and it is up to us to believe the plan is a good plan.

This lesson for using our gifts is an important lesson for children.  Children should be allowed to explore their interests, and within limits that may cause them major harm or death, parents should encourage changing interests as they children grow.  Soon main talents emerge, and at this point parents should not push for perfection in contests for these talents, or these seemingly “positive efforts” by parents can backfire.  Then potential talent in the child is lost or postponed until the anger for extra work in youth disappears and the passion reappears.

In business and education, there is a type of training that tests personality traits of people and similar traits are coded into colors.  Those with different “colors” may complement each other, or may cause problems. Possible disputes can be avoided as problems are anticipated and solved.  All this is important to explain how people relate to each other, in business or in organizations, such as a church.  I believe the “color” personality theories have racial undertones with the message that people of different skin colors can live together in peace and harmony.

A person’s color personality traits, especially in youth, needs to be realized and taken into consideration in the development of that child’s God-given gifts.  The potential of an athlete can be accomplished only if he or she starts involvement in sports, and a specialty emerges possibly enough to become a professional in that sport.
I would not like to be in this world if we all had the same talents at the same time. God plans our lives before we are born, and each of us is different so we can serve our Lord according to our gifts.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.