We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. Romans 12:6, NIV
Today, in a large chain department store, I stood in the checkout line behind a young mother. Not only did she have a cart full of groceries and a cute little four-year-old girl in the basket of her cart, but she also a baby carrier containing a weeks-old baby in the front of the cart.
The little girl kept saying, in her loud “outside” voice, “Skooby Doo!” The young mother asked her daughter to stop—or at least keep her voice down. The child looked up at her mother and innocently said, “But I need to express myself!”
Of course, I couldn’t help but chuckle, especially when the girl’s mother responded, “Then, please express yourself more quietly.”
“Skooby Doo!” the little girl began repeating, now in an exaggerated whisper. I suspect the main issue was that the child was finding it difficult to share the limelight with her new sibling. But where this little girl had heard about the need to “express” one’s self is beyond me!
We may chuckle at the explanation from the little girl, but the truth is that we all have a
need to express ourselves, and we do this in different ways. No, not all of us are as vocal or outgoing as this child was. But I do know this: All of us have been given individual talents because Jesus needs us to use them for Him. When we share—in our own ways—what God has done for us, we will experience His peace, joy, strength, and a sense of security. Not only that, but others around us who hear the expressions of our love and appreciation for Christ, will experience His peace, joy, strength, and assurance, as well.
The fact that Jesus needs us is very good news to me! We all need to feel needed. And we are needed, for we are beloved children in God’s family. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1, NIV). God needs us, as His children, to contribute to the welfare and advancement of the family. We are needed members of God’s family, and He has given special gifts which we can use to enrich the lives of those around us. Some of us will do so quietly, and others of us may be feeling the need to shout, “Skooby Doo!”
Whatever talent God has given you for His glory, just go ahead and . . . express yourself!
Grace Keene
First published in In His Presence (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press), 2018.
Carolyn R. Sutton, editor
