As we get older our lives significantly change.
For example, once retired, we are no longer preoccupied with how to make
a living, and the tasks before us at work. Likewise, our bodies
change, so that even though we have the time to take lessons, we
physically may not be able to play the piano like we have always
dreamed—at least not learn as well as a child with nimble agile
fingers. We can’t sing like we used to. We can’t think as clearly;
bake as well; our timing is off. We don’t have the physical strength of
our youth anymore. As the reality of aging truths mount it can conjure
up a fear. “Afraid,” one older gentleman told me upon retirement, “I’m
afraid of becoming useless.” One of the worst horrors of the human
soul is the fear of being useless.
A
study of spiritual gifts may surprise us in that we soon see we can lay
aside the fear of becoming useless. It is not because God promises to
keep us strong, or sharp, or on key as we grow old. Instead He promises
to give us a gift that won’t fade, but only continue to mature and get
better with age. This is because it is a supernatural thing—not
dependent upon us or our decaying physical minds and bodies, but
dependent upon the Spirit of God. And because it is a supernatural
thing, not a natural but a spiritual gift, it has a unique purpose. As a
result of fulfilling this purpose, that haunting feeling of uselessness
vanishes.
Your spiritual gift is by God’s sovereign grace.
