The Purpose Of A Gift

I was reading in Exodus 25 (New JPS translation) this morning and the first few verses really got my attention.
The LORD spoke to Moses saying: "Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him. And these are the gifts you shall accept from them: gold, silver and copper; blue, purple and crimson yarns, fine linen; goats' hair, tanned ram skins,dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Exactly as I show you- the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings-so shall you make it.
God was telling the Isrealites what supplies they would need to build the ark of the covenant. This is where He would dwell as they traveled.
The blueprint for the dwelling place was divinely given by God. The part I want to talk about is the free will gifts to build it.
The materials used came from every person whose heart so moved him to give.
Today, because of Jesus Christ, God's tabernacle is us. He dwells in us but the same rule applies. The tabernacle is built by each person who is so moved to invite Him in.
The part of the verse that really hit me was God asked the people to bring gifts. It's not like God needed man, He could have built it Himself. He was working with man, co-dwelling with him. Allowing man to work with God for a divine plan. He is still doing that today.
We are to use (bring) our gifts today for Kingdom building. The blueprint is still divinely ordained by the word of God but the materials are still mans gifts.
A few years ago I was at a Pastor's conference and the speaker asked what was an acceptable number of people I thought should go to hell? Was it 100, 50, 25 even 1? My answer of course was 0.
The Holy Spirit then said to me “Gena you have talents that you use in the business world to make money. You use them to some extent for reaching the lost but mostly you use them to make a living. I need you to use those gifts to share Jesus with others.”
I'm not saying it's wrong to use your gifts and talents for work it's actually the best thing to do. If your working in a place where you naturally fit you'll enjoy your job a lot more.
The above scripture listed some of the types of gifts the people should bring like gold, silver, copper, achaia wood, fine linen and goats hair.
You may think the person who had the gold was way more important than the person with the goats hair since gold would appear to be more valuable, but you would be wrong.
If God asked for goats hair then it was still NEEDED in order to complete the divine blueprint. All the materials were created by God but man had possession of them so what you had was needed.
Today the gifts are a bit different.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
You have one of these gifts whether you admit it or not. If you have asked Jesus to live in your temple (body) then you were given the Holy Spirit and He gives the gifts as He determines.
You may be saying I have faith but I definitely don't have the gift of miraculous powers so I better leave the evangelism thing to those more qualified.
If that's what you think than again you would be wrong.
Every gift is NEEDED to build the Kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 12:14-20 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Bottom line here Gems is you have a gift to give and no one is more important than another.
I want you to imagine for a moment God speaking to you directly and asking you this question.
Your name “what is an acceptable number for you of people that should go to Hell?
Will you bring me your gift? If you will, I will accept it and use it to bring people to Jesus?”
There will be a day when we will ALL see Jesus face to face and He will asks us what we did with the gifts He gave us. What will your answer be?
What's the purpose of a gift? Could be the difference between someone having eternal life with God or not.
Please open your gift, give it to God and allow the Holy Spirit to do amazing things with it. You are the building material God is asking to use!