Others Before ME!

As I have been reading Romans 12 each day in preparation for teaching on Spiritual Gifts another thing stood out to me this morning that I never really noticed before.  Romans 12:4-8 talks about that we should allow others to use their gifts that God has given to them.  But that is sandwiched between some very important truths.  Verse 3 tells us to not to think of ourselves more highly then we should, but to think of others before us.  After we are told to think of others before us, then, and only then, are we instructed to allow others to use their gifts.  We are to empower others to be all they can be.  To make them look good.  When Paul lists the gifts, it says that if someone has the gift of teaching, let him teach.  It does not tell us to do all the teaching because we think we can do it better or that we should always teach because we want all the attention on us.  No, it tells us to allow others to teach and use their gifts.

After the list of gifts,  Paul talks about how we need to love others.  He goes into a big long list of ways we should be treating others.  Take time to read it.  But my whole point is that the gifts are sandwiched between our love to others.  For people to shine and be all that God’s want them to be, we need to love them and allow them to use their gifts.  To put them before ourselves.  If we were thinking more about how we could help others to use their gifts and not worry about ourself to be the best, then everyone would get along so much better. 

When there is a job to do, just do it, and don’t worry about who gets the credit, just so the job gets done.