Wake Up to God's Will for Your LifeSample

The Grace Comes With the Gift

I hear a lot of preachers talking about “burnout” these days, and it doesn’t surprise me. Imagine a pure pastor who is wonderfully gifted in his pastoral office. He is using 100 percent of his God-given ministry gift, yet his gift is only 20 percent of what his congregation needs. This precious pastor is working around the clock, attempting to provide 100 percent of what the church requires to be perfected and edified in the way Ephesians 4:12 describes, yet he has only 20 percent of the grace to do that job! Anyone can see that this is a formula for disaster. If a person’s body has only 20 percent functionality, we would say that person is handicapped. If an airplane lost all but 20 percent of its facilities, we would bring it in for an emergency landing. If a business operated at only 20 percent output, it would soon go bankrupt.

In Philippians 1 Paul is talking to his ministry partners (the ones who were supporting him financially). In verse 5 he expresses his gratitude for their partnership in the work of the gospel, and then in verse 7 he says, “Ye all are partakers of my grace.” Do you realize that you can actually tap into the grace that is on someone else’s life? By partnering with Paul’s gift, the Ephesians became partakers of his grace! Let’s go back to my example of the pastor who is burning out. Rather than attempting to provide 100 percent of his church’s needs with 20 percent of the gift and grace, he should partner with others who are gifted in the areas he is not. When he partners with their gifts, he will also become a partaker in their grace, and the whole church will benefit.

 The principle is simple but very profound, and Ephesians 4:7 encapsulates it: “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” The grace comes with the gift!

 Although this verse is set in the context of the fivefold ministry gifts, it is not just applicable to those called into “full-time ministry.” The Bible says this grace is given to every one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Whenever God calls you to do something, He will always supply the perfect measure of grace so you will be able to operate in your gifting. But whenever you try to operate outside your gift, you will find it difficult, burdensome, and miserable, because there will be no grace for it.

 Take, for instance, someone who is called to live a life of celibacy. Paul the Apostle was one. In fact, he said in 1 Corinthians 7 that remaining single was a good thing, and he went so far as to say in verse 7: “I wish that all men were like I myself am [in this matter of self-control]. But each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another” (AMP). Although Paul preferred singleness and wished everyone would remain single as he was, he had the wisdom to recognize that his ability to lead a happy and full life without a spouse was a special gift from God.

 Paul understood that without the gift, there would be no grace. This is why Paul warned against those who would forbid marriage (1 Tim. 4:3). We have seen in the modern Roman Catholic Church priests who have been forbidden to marry, though many have neither the gift, nor the grace to remain single. The result has been an appalling international scandal that has shamed Christianity and landed many priests behind bars. Paul’s singleness was a gift, and with the gift God had given him the grace. Without the grace Paul would not have seen his singleness as a gift but as a burden.

 There is also another interesting side note here. Because Paul was given the calling, or the “gift,” and the grace to lead a celibate life, he said, “I wish that all men were like I myself am.” I have noticed that when the gift and grace are on a person’s life to do something, it seems so natural and obvious to them. They think everyone else should be doing it as well. There are two lessons to learn from this principle.

 First, don’t make the mistake of trying to force those around you to do what God has called you to do. And don’t look down on them for doing something other than what you think is so important. Recognize that, as Paul said, “Each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another” (1 Cor. 7:7 AMP). And second, if you think everyone should be doing one particular thing, chances are, that is what you are called to do! If you think everyone should be an evangelist, you are probably an evangelist. If you think everyone should be a political activist, then that is probably what God is calling you to do!

 When God’s gift and grace are resting on a person for a certain task or calling, he is able to do with joy what would seem difficult or even impossible to others. It is interesting that as a boy I dreaded the thought of being sent into the jungle in obedience to the call, but today I often go to the “jungle” preaching the gospel in Africa and around the world—and I don’t know of anything I would rather do. I love my life, and I love my calling as a missionary-evangelist. What I had not taken into consideration as a child was this great truth: the grace comes with the gift, and the grace makes all the difference.

 With this understanding, you never need to be afraid to discover God’s will for your life. If He calls you to do something, He will also give you the grace to do it. When you are in God’s will, covered by His grace, it is the most wonderful place to be in the whole world.

 Praise God today that He will never call you to do something that He doesn’t already have covered by His Grace for you to complete.