Topic: What Will Be Your Contribution? [RICK WARREN Devotional 12 March 2023]
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What Will Be Your Contribution?
BY RICK WARREN — MARCH 12, 2023
FROM THE LIFE YOU WERE MEANT TO LIVE
“God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.”
1 Peter 4:10 (TLB)
What will be the contribution of your life? Are you going to use your God-given talents and abilities to benefit yourself or other people?
The Bible says, “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings” (1 Peter 4:10 TLB).
God wired you to make a difference. He wired you to make a contribution in this world. You were not put on this Earth just to take up space, use resources, retire, and die. God uniquely shaped you so you can make a unique contribution.
You need to ask yourself, “Based on how God wired me, what is the greatest contribution I can make? How can I make a difference?”
In the Bible, the Good Samaritan is an example of someone who had margin in his life so that he could make a contribution. Remember the story? A guy was mugged on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho. The attackers beat him up, robbed him of all his stuff, and left him for dead at the side of the road. The first guy who came walking by and saw him was a religious leader who had no margin in his life. He was in a hurry and basically said, “I don’t have time to help this guy.” And he walked on.
Another religious leader walked by. He said, in effect, “I’ve got my own agenda. I’ve got my own goals and ambitions. I’m too busy. I don’t want to be associated with that guy anyway.” And he walked past the dying man.
The third guy came along, and he had every reason to pass. He was a Samaritan, and the Samaritans and Jews hated each other. But he stopped anyway. He put this total stranger on his donkey, took him to the nearest hotel, and told the manager something like this: “You feed him, you clothe him, you restore him to health, and I’ll pay for it.”
When was the last time you helped someone in need? If it’s been so long you don’t even remember, you probably don’t have any margin in your life. But this guy did. He had time margin; he left early enough to stop along the way to help somebody in need. He had financial margin; he was able to give away his money. And he had energy margin; he was able to help because he wasn’t stressed out.
Every day of your life, you walk by people you could help. But if you’re overloaded and only focused on your own life, you can’t stop to help anybody. You can’t make a contribution.
When you boil it all down in life, there are only two kinds of people: givers and takers. Which are you going to be?
Talk It Over
- What unique abilities has God given you? How are you using them to bless others?
- How does culture try to convince you to be a taker instead of a giver?
- In what ways can you build margin into your life so that you are focused on other people and not yourself?
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