Give God Your Gifts - A Guest Post

My good friend Sara, who recently wrote her book, "He's Making Diamonds" is sharing with us an article on submitting our gifts to God. Hope you enjoy!

Our dog’s name is Zoey. She loves to play tug-of-war, go on walks, and play fetch. Oops, no, she doesn’t play fetch. No matter how many times we try to teach her, she just doesn’t seem to want to play our way. She’ll run after the stick and get it, sure. But she won’t bring it back. She’ll run in circles around you, teasing you with her toy, pretending she’ll drop it . . . only to snatch it back up and run the moment you try to take it from her. Zoey much prefers chase over fetch. As in, we’ll chase her and she’ll play keep-away.

​But I’m pretty certain that chase is not as much fun as fetch. After all, we often stop playing with her when she refuses to bring it. She chooses to play by herself and not by the rules that would enable her to play with us. I mean, which sounds like more fun? Running around the yard by yourself with a stick in your mouth? Or having someone play with you? I may not be an extrovert per se, but I do appreciate not being an only child. When it’s time to play and have fun, I much prefer to do so with others than by myself most of the time.

I think that maybe we often do what Zoey does with her toy with the gifts God gives us. He gives us a gift, but instead of bringing it back to Him and getting even more gifts—getting to use the gift again and again for a lot more fun—we snatch it up and run circles around God, tiring ourselves out in the most boring way we can come up with.

If we want to, we can take our ball and go home. God won’t force us to love Him. But the way to most effectively use the gifts God has given us is to give them to Him. To keep bringing them back to Him and letting Him throw them in the direction He desires and chasing after them with the glow and excitement that comes from pleasing our master. The joy that comes from playing with others rather than by ourselves. Playing and working with God rather than by ourselves. God is a good master. He will reward us.

When we take the gift He gives us and run around in fruitless circles without purpose or direction, not only is it not very fun or exciting, it also leaves us tired and frustrated.

Perhaps you read this and wonder what gifts God has given you. You can’t seem to identify them right now. Do you even have any?

Yes! Of course you do. The Bible has a ton to say about the gifts God gives, but just the fact that you are reading this means that you have the gift of life. God has given you life! He has breathed air into your lungs and created you. If nothing else, start by giving that gift back to Him: the gift of your life.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. - Romans 12:1 (NIV)

​And don’t stop giving your life back to Him. Bring it back to Him over and over again. It’s a choice we have to make every single moment of our lives.

In Christ,
Sara

Meet Sara!

S. G. Willoughby is a seventeen-year-old girl with Lyme disease, toxic mold poisoning, and MCS. Currently, she resides in Arizona with her parents and two siblings. In her spare time she loves to write, read, and have adventures. She writes at FoundWhoIAm, R535, and Th!nk Magazine.