A favorite toy of toddlers is a hollow container with holes of various shapes in it. The child is supposed to put through the holes objects that are shaped the same as the holes. (Playskool has one called the Form Fitter.) This kind of toy is one of the first toys a toddler plays with, working hard to put the right-shaped object into the same-shaped hole. A child eventually outgrows the toy, but in a way we all spend the rest of our lives trying to do the same thing: finding where we fit in. Often we feel like we’re square pegs trying to fit into round holes, or round pegs trying to fit into square holes.

It’s a great feeling when someone finally feels that they’ve found their niche in life. One of my minister friends has a son who was foundering as he tried to find a job. His heart’s desire was to be an artist, probably working with wood. Then he was introduced to a man who runs a business doing fine woodworking. The young man is now working for him six days a week, ten hours a day, and loving it. He’s found his niche.

We’re looking at ten core values that make life worth living. One of those core values is discovering and utilizing your unique giftedness. Christian Schwartz wrote, “No factor influences the contentedness of Christians more than whether they are utilizing their gifts or not.” (Natural Church Development, p.24)

Christian missionary Eric Liddell competed in the 1924 summer Olympics, and his story was made into the movie Chariots of Fire. He said about his tremendous speed, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” We sense God’s pleasure when we’re in God’s will, using the unique ways He has gifted us, and there’s no better feeling in the world!

BODY IMAGERY
The idea that there’s a unique place and purpose for every one of us was made very clear by the apostle Paul when he used the analogy of the human body. He wrote, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:12) We’re meant to work together to get God’s work done, but we’re also individual parts of it all.

Our body parts can cause us pain. As author John Piper wrote, Paul identified two opposite body pains that we can experience. First, we can experience the pain of feeling useless. We may feel that we really don’t contribute much and that we have little to offer. Paul wrote about this particular body pain, “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.” (1 Corinthians 12:15-18)

Think of someone you really admire; perhaps you wish you were like that person. Certainly that person has traits worthy of emulating, but you wouldn’t want to be exactly like that person — because then you wouldn’t be you! What if the whole world were exactly like that person, with the exact mix of characteristics that person has? It would be a very out-of-balance world!

Paul said that God has made “every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (1 Corinthians 12:18) So it is with us, and Paul’s whole purpose in using the body imagery was to make that point. God has designed each of us to be different from everyone else. We should never feel useless because we aren’t of the same use to God as someone else. God has His own unique way for us to serve Him.

The second pain that we can experience is the pain of self-sufficiency. Perhaps this doesn’t happen as often as feeling unimportant, but it does happen. This isn’t always thought of as a pain: usually it makes us feel good, but in a false, wrong way. We may feel that our contribution is the most important of all. Paul warned us, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” (1 Corinthians 12:21) A team member may be voted “most valuable player,” but he’d never get the award unless he had teammates who played the game with him! No one is so important that they can get along without other people.

GOD HAS A PLACE FOR EACH OF US
The fact is that God has a place for each of us. Each of us is uniquely qualified (gifted) to fulfill God’s purposes for us.

I was thinking about this after our son Dan called us the other day. He wanted to tell us that he finally broke a case that he’s been working on as a detective. Everyone had strongly suspected that a daycare operator had battered a four-month-old boy. Dan had interrogated the woman for a total of three hours until finally she confessed to the crime.

I recall Dan when he was “Danny.” He’d do something that was wrong and then he’d try to argue his way out of the tight spot that he was in. Sometimes his arguments were so convincing that I almost believed him! His strong, persuasive ways were a frustration to his mother and me, but now he’s putting them to good use. He got the woman to confess, even getting her to act out how she shook the baby and then threw him onto the floor. The confession was all recorded on tape, and Dan’s superior e-mailed him, complimenting him on his interviewing skills — so for those parents who find a part of their child’s personality to be frustrating, there’s hope! Pray that God can carry out His plan and use that characteristic in a positive way!

No one is of no use to God. If God has put a person on this earth, that person has a God-given purpose for being here!

Brennan Manning wrote about an Episcopal priest in Seattle, Washington who observed a well-known couple sitting in the back pew of the church with their Down’s syndrome child. It was clear to him that they were embarrassed. When they were on their way out of church, the pastor asked them to come into his office. The pastor took the child into his arms and began to sob, telling the parents, “Do you have any idea of the gift that God has given you in this child?” He went on, “Two years ago my three-year-old daughter, Sylvia, died with Down’s syndrome. We have four other children, so we know the blessing that kids can be. Yet the most precious gift we’ve ever received in our entire lives has been Sylvia. In her uninhibited expression of affection, she revealed to us the face of God as no other human being ever has. Did you know that several Native American tribes attribute divinity to Down’s children because in their utter simplicity they’re a transparent window into the Great Spirit? Treasure this child, for he will lead you into the heart of God.” The pastor said that from that day on the parents began to brag about their special child.

None of us is perfect or gifted in all ways. However, if we just turn ourselves over to God to be His instruments, there’s no telling what He can do with us!

SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE CHURCH
One place where we can bloom for God and feel useful is among His people, in what we call the local church. The church is also called Christ’s body. That’s why Paul used the imagery that each of us is a part of the body of Christ.

Paul wrote, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:27-28) In Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 Paul also listed some of the spiritual gifts God gives us.

When we become followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God gifts us to do the work He’s calling us to do. What’s the best way to figure out where God has gifted you? Try working in an area that you’re interested in, where things come a little easier for you. God is a good God, and He gives us passions and abilities in the areas where He wants us to serve Him. You can also take what’s called a “spiritual gifts inventory.” We offer it here at the church, but you can also go on line to our web site (www.mayfairplymouth.org) where we have links to free spiritual gifts assessments — or go directly to www.churchgrowth.org/analysis/ or www.buildingchurch.net/g2s.htgm.

One of the core values of our church is helping people to discover and use their spiritual gifts. We don’t want volunteers who feel as if they’re square pegs trying to fit into round holes of ministry. We want people who realize that they’re called, and who find the place where God has called them to work. Our goal is not just to fill a spot, but rather to help people find the right spot for them.

We’re all very different. One person loves leading an adult group or teaching adults, and someone else would rather go to the dentist than lead or teach. Another person loves being around and working with small children, and someone else would panic at the prospect. One person loves working in the church kitchen, while another person would be overwhelmed by having to get all the food ready at the same time for 75 people. We’ve been made the unique people we are in order to be used by God in unique ways!

God has made us very different from each other so that we can be God’s instruments for His glory, and for the good of His people! Picture a small child working with a “Form Fitter” toy. The child tries to push a piece through a hole, turns the odd-shaped object again and again, and finally it falls in! A look of joy and accomplishment appears on the child’s face. That’s how God wants us to respond when we figure out how we fit into His grand scheme of things!