11-11-24-DAILY READING-ENG.

EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT

                              YOUR BEST VERSUS GOD'S

In equipping us to do God's will, the Holy Spirit doesn't give us a talent, skill, or ability to use as we desire; He gives us Himself. Then He accomplishes the Father's will through our lives. This alone makes possible our experience of the divine power that turns the world upside down. As the apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:3:

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” Too often we're content to serve God by giving our own greatest effort. What is that, however, compared to the power of the Holy Spirit? What does the world really need to see: what we can do or what God can do? The world doesn't need to see good people giving their best to God; they need to encounter God doing in and through us what only He can do! How strange it must sound to God when we counsel others (or ourselves), “Just do your best. That's all that matters.”

Do we want to give the world our best or let the world experience God's best? To give only the best we have is to cheat the world of what could have been. If we're a blessing to the world, it's not because of what we can do for others but because we're filled with the Spirit of God whereby we've become a channel of His blessing. Living by the Spirit's power doesn't mean we should ignore our God-given abilities and talents. But we must never assume those talents are the only areas in which we can serve. We'll say more later about how we use our natural talents, but first we need to expose the myth that our natural talents are the same as spiritual gifts. They may, in fact, be worlds apart.