Birthright

I am not a big believer in people's rights. Don't misunderstand me - I'm not some sort of anti human rights aggressor. What I mean is people's self declared rights: no one has a right to a job of their choosing for instance, they do have a right to the opportunity of gainful employment. No one has the right to miss the first steps on any ladder they may be climbing, everyone has the right to progress as far and as fast as their ability and commitment will allow them.

The rights of the self are not self determined.

But everyone of us has a birthright from God which is sometimes - maybe often - ignored.

That is the right to use the spiritual gifts that are placed within us by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For many they are not exercised because we do not realise they are there - they lay like buried treasure within our soul; for others even though they are discovered they are not used due to embarrassment, or 'we don't do that in our fellowship' attitude of others; there are other reasons and excuses as well.

For myself my gift lay within me unused for sometime because of a lack of confidence - I was not certain of who I was in Christ. Once my relationship with Christ developed where He made me not only confident of myself but moreso confident of Him I was able to confidently lead with diligence as scripture had always directed.

The excercising of the gift was so dependent on my confidence in the giver. No surprise that my leadership is still a reflection of my spiritual life - when I am walking close to Christ I am confident, bold sometimes and can handle criticism and pessimism. When I am not near to Jesus my leadership is faulty - woefully so - I make bad decisions, don't listen to wise counsel from others and have a bullish approach. 

The gifts that each person has are different - and some people have many gifts - we all have a right to use them, that is what God wants for us.

Excercise your birthright!