READ: ROMANS 12:4-8; 1 PETER 4:7-11

When you watch or play a sport, do you expect everyone to be good at every part of the game? For example, if you watch baseball, does everyone who bats get the same number of hits? Does everyone throw the exact same way? Of course not! Everyone on a team has different strengths. Maybe you play baseball, and hitting isn’t your biggest strength, but you’re a very good pitcher. We can’t all be great hitters, but we can do our best in the position we do play.

It’s the same with the body of Christ—the church. As Christians, we all have different spiritual gifts and natural talents, and we each have an important position on the team. Romans 12:4-8 points out that every Christian has a different calling. So we don’t need to compare our talents to someone else’s. God only wants us to use the talents He has given us, not the ones He gave someone else.

Instead of comparing ourselves to fellow believers, God invites us to use our different abilities to work as a team so that, together, we can show the world the love of Jesus. And all this is possible because Jesus died and rose again to save us, uniting us to God and placing us in community with each other. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit. And because we all have the same Spirit, we can work together in unity toward the same goal: sharing the good news with the world.

From time to time, we’ll all have moments when we feel like we’re just not good enough at something. When we see someone else excelling in things like sports, music, or academics, it’s easy to wish we could be like that person. But instead of wasting our time comparing our talents, we can focus on the gifts and abilities God has given us. We can steward our own unique abilities as part of God’s team of believers, pointing others to Jesus. • A. W. Smith

• When are you tempted to compare yourself to others? Which talents are you most tempted to be jealous of? Consider taking some time to talk to Jesus about these things and tell Him how you feel. Then take a moment to consider the spiritual gifts and natural abilities He has given you, and spend some time thanking Him for these good gifts.

• Where can you use your gifts and talents on Jesus’s team? If you’re not sure, who is a trusted Christian you can talk to about it, such as a pastor, parent, youth leader, or friend?

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)