TALKERS AND DOERS -- Devotional for October 2, from "Good Seeds"

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves let him do so as by the strength which God supplies. (I Peter 4:10-11)

Have you heard this one: “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who say there are two kinds of people in the this world, and those who don’t”? But we’ve all heard many of these “two kinds of people” summarizations of mankind. And some of them are downright biblical! Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say, “There are only two kinds of people in this world: the saints and the ain’t’s!” He took the words right out of our Lord’s mouth, except He called them “the sheep and the goats” (Matt. 25:32). But now, among those sheep the apostle Peter makes another distinction. First he says "we’ve all received a special gift from the Lord." Indeed Paul lists seven distinct motivational gifts (leave it to Paul to say, “There are SEVEN kinds of people in God’s kingdom!”) But Peter is to Paul as Mark is to Matthew, saying virtually the same thing but with fewer words. Peter reduces the many gifts into two broad categories: The gifts of speaking, and the gifts of serving – the talkers and the doers. Now it’s only natural that each thinks his is the better gift. There should be no bragging or arguing about it, but it’s a good thing to like best what you do best – as long as you remember where it came from. You don’t get the credit, you don’t get the glory, but you do get the joy that comes from doing well what you were endowed by your Creator to do. Just today I was talking via email to my wife, who is in Japan on a short-term missions endeavor. She was bemoaning the fact that she’s not as gung-ho in ministry as the other team members, and it was making her feel so unspiritual. I told her, “Maybe you’re the only normal one in the group, and you’re there to provide sanity and balance.” I may have been on the right track, but here’s a better way to say it: “You have different gifts than they have. Maybe in what is going on right now their gifts of articulating God’s truth are more needful, and so are at the forefront. But your gifts of friendship and fun (she does the crafts) are just as beneficial – and just as spiritual, for that matter. I’ve long known my wife to be as deft with her hands as I am clever with words. That’s why I married her: opposites attract, and we each need what the other has. She’s always telling me, “I can’t say it as prettily as you.” I come back with, “But I’m the one with no brains when it comes to practical matters. What would I do without you?” And what would the Japan team do without her? Happily, they’ll never know, for she’s there, smiling and serving – and being a good listener to those with the spiritual gift of gab!!