Purpose: Offer What You Have Received
Today’s devotional
A change in work, health, or responsibility can make a familiar question return: What is my life for now? A role once gave the days a clear shape. Without it, usefulness can seem like the measure of whether we still matter. The gospel invites us to begin with the belonging Christ has already given.
Peter describes gifts as something believers have received and are entrusted to use in service. The passage connects prayer, love, hospitality, and practical help. Whatever a person offers is to draw upon the strength God supplies. Purpose takes shape within that shared life, as grace received becomes care offered for another person's good.
On the night before the cross, Jesus knew his relation to the Father and the authority entrusted to him. He rose from the table and washed his disciples' feet. His secure identity gave direction to his service. The towel anticipated the self-giving love of the cross, where he offered his life for the world.
The risen Christ gives us new life, and the Holy Spirit helps us recognize what has been placed in our care. A learned skill, a patient presence, the ability to organize, or an eye for someone overlooked may become a useful gift. Others may help us recognize it. We can develop what is unfinished and let another person's strength meet a need better suited to them.
Faithful stewardship includes limits. Rest and receiving care belong within a life of purpose. Illness, disability, dependence, or uncertainty do not cancel a person's dignity or belonging. You are free to ask what is yours to offer today without trying to meet every need. Notice one actual person and consider what would help. Offer a small response within your capacity, allowing them to receive or decline it. You can entrust the outcome to God. The life you have received already matters; love gives direction to the gifts and responsibilities within it.
Adapted from Week 10, “Purpose: Receiving our gifts for the good of others,” in Wonder Words by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice how the word takes shape within God’s story.
1 Peter 4:7-11 · WEBU
7But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
8And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
9Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
10As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
11If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
John 13:1-5 · WEBU
1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God,
4arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Pause and respond
For reflection
What gift or capacity can I offer in love today while receiving my own need for care?
A practice for today
Choose one gift or learned skill and offer it in a small, specific way to someone who could use it. Ask what would help, and keep the offer within your present capacity.
A prayer
Giver of life, thank you that I belong to you before any work I accomplish. Holy Spirit, help me recognize what you have entrusted to me and where it may serve love. Jesus, teach me to offer freely, respect my limits, receive care, and entrust the fruit of my life to you. Amen.
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