Don't Forget Your Gifts - 2 Samuel 15:13-37

Don’t Forget Your Gifts – 2 Samuel 15:13-37

When you experience a “failure” or tragedy, you can easily overlook the gifts of lessons to be learned, forsake previously undiscovered assets of character and disregard reminders of God’s unquestionable faithfulness.  We focus upon pain and disappointment which distract us from seeing many blessings embedded within myriad trials and tests of life.  It is important to mine the rubble of difficult experiences for gifts buried underneath the piles of ruin.  Dwelling upon negative experiences eclipses your ability to see the eternal gifts Almighty God creates out of the rubble of difficult situations.

Meticulously assessing amounts of property damage and inventorying loss of replaceable material possessions after a natural disaster may impede you from giving thanks for the lives of relatives and friends who survived.  Consider the victims of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005.  Many of them actually saw their loved ones die before their very eyes.  I recall the story, told to National Public Radio, of a man who was waiting for rescue on the roof of his house with all the members of his family.  He consistently encouraged them to hang on until help came.  They did so until their feeble human strength gave out.  Then, right before his eyes, he watched all of them float away as they could no longer hold on and succumbed to the flow of the water.  He remains the sole survivor of his family.  A woman whose family all survived and relocated to another city tells Story Corps that she learned that stuff is just that replaceable stuff.  She also shares she learned to put value upon people and relationships and to reduce her valuation of property.  These are the reflections of a woman who lost every material possession she once owned.  The late Hamilton Jordan, White House Chief of Staff to former President Jimmy Carter, who lived with cancer for twenty-five years and bravely fought six different types of the disease found the eternal gift of service as he brought healing and hope to countless thousands of people by advocating for more funding for cancer research. 

I do not assess my experience as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill as a failure.  I realize that many of my nemeses will characterize my tenure negatively.  Whereas I greatly regret the reduction in attendees, inability to reclaim those persons who were loosely affiliated, net loss in members, lack of success in recruiting new members and paralysis of the building project, I do not accept the determination of my pastoral service and tenure there as a failure.  That erroneous and uninformed description overlooks the successes in pastoral care, community outreach, social justice ministry, missions outreach programs, preaching, Christian education, administrative excellence, emphasis upon genuine and biblically based spirituality, focus upon children and youth ministries.  I am very tempted to regret accepting the eighteenth pastorate of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill and to relegate the entire time as a colossal waste.  However, I walk way with a laundry list of invaluable and eternal spiritual gifts.  Mysteriously, Almighty God plants seeds of providence in every test and tribulation.  Through the eyes of faith, pull away the garbage and damaged goods and find the wealth of experience and strength of character that God will use mightily as you persevere to the next assignment.