If you are a child of God, God has given to you a specific gift in which you are to serve Him.  While the church is made of numbers of individuals, the fact is, each person in the church has a specific gift in which they are to glorify God.  As Paul is encouraging the saints in Rome, he is reminding them that they are to use their gifts and put them in to practice.  The same holds true today.  One of the reasons that so many Christians experience “little joy” in their lives is found in the fact that they never discover their spiritual gift and put it into practice.  When we locate and lock in on the spiritual gift God has given us, there will be a transformation in our lives, our thinking and our entire approach to church.

Imagine for a moment how healthy our body is when we use each part of the body for what it is intended- each part of the body is maintained and the body functions in health.  So it is when we as believers use and exercise our spiritual gifts- we are spiritual healthy, emotionally fulfilled, tranquil in our spirit, and at peace with God and ourselves-all because we are using and exercising our spiritual gifts.

However, when we neglect to use the members of our body for the purposes in which they are intended “atrophy” sets in.  The same is true in the Lord’s church.  When we fail to serve where God has gifted us, spiritual atrophy and paralysis takes place in our lives, and we reach the conclusion that the Christian life “doesn’t work”, when nothing is further from the truth.

Just as our physical body has different functions in order to work well, so it is with the Lord’s church.  If you never take time to locate your spiritual gifts, you may well live out your entire earthly life frustrated and without any true and lasting joy.  As Peter was an example of prophecy, Timothy, the servant of Paul is a good example of the gift of service.