Rev Francisco Bilog2 Timothy 1:1-6
This is indeed a blessed opportunity for me to fellowship and to share the Word of God to wonderful people like you whom God has entrusted many of his gifts. Yes, as I see it, you are a group of men who have been blessed by the Lord with many of his wonderful gifts; one important proof of it is that you are in business.
God loves you and cares for you and your family, for this reason He has bestowed upon you the many gifts that you are enjoying now in order that you may have bountiful life. In God’s eternal purpose, however, every blessings and gifts that we received from God have a corresponding responsibility, that is, for us to share the gifts that we receive from Him to others.
It is for this reason that I bring to you the challenge of St. Paul to Timothy when he said: “I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you!” (KJV). Other translations would give us several meanings of Paul’s challenge: “I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you” (TEV); “I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift that God gave you” (NLT); “I ask you to make full use of the gift that God gave you and use it well” (CEV).
For our meditation this morning I will use the King James Version which states “I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you”. I have chosen this version because we have many common visual illustrations in our daily life that gives us greater impact in our understanding.
Many of us take coffee everyday. With a mug of hot water, we put in the ingredients such as coffee, sugar and sometimes cream or milk. When you taste it right away it will be stale and not be to your liking. However, when you stir it up to be sure that the coffee, sugar and cream are mixed together, you will have the coffee to its fullness and wonderful taste, thus giving you the satisfaction and contentment.
Let me then suggest three steps that we should consider in respond to Paul’s exhortation of stirring up God’s gift in us.
1. Recognize God’s Gift in you and be thankful.
Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the Christians once said, “Everything I have is a gift from God” (John 17:7). This is a statement of fact. Every religion in the world teaches that man’s life is a gift from God. Furthermore, as Jesus said, everything that we have is a gift from God. God in line of his eternal purposes may bestow upon each person different gifts. It is important that we should know the gifts of God in us so that we may like it, and develop it to its highest potential use. The ignorance, denial and rejection of these gifts will make us missed the joy and the privilege of succeeding according to God’s purposes.
On the other hand denial that the source of these gifts comes from God will make us proud which will eventually result in our missing of God’s sustaining grace for us to succeed in all our endeavors.
What are God’s gifts to you? Can you enumerate them? Psalms 127:3 even claims that your children are a gift from the Lord. To be inclusive this means that the following, if you have them, are God’s gifts to you:
- Your business. f. Your health
- Your skill g. Your patience, compassion & love of people
- Your capital h. Your sensitivity to see the signs of the time
- Your partner in business i. Your family and friends
- Your employees j. Others.
Now that you have counted, and recognized the different gifts that
God bestowed upon you thank him with a grateful heart.
2. Stir The Gifts that God has given you.
Stirring it up; mean using your gifts well for its highest potential good for the benefits of many. Make it grow and make it big. As you are in business, endeavor to make the quality of your service and the quality of your products be your best advertisements. Remember, the source and the giver of your business is your partner too.
Remember the other translations of Paul’s challenge:
“I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you”
“I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift that God gave you”
“I ask you to make full use of the gift that God gave you and use it
well”
All of these translations urged us to use our gifts, to apply it to its fullness and use it well for others.
These gifts that you have when it is use well, will help you to truly become what God wants you to be, such as, being “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.”
Many God fearing Christians who are stirring God’s gift in their lives take the word of God in Malachi very seriously when God said:
“I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test.
Bring the entire ten per cent of your income into the storehouse so there
will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and
flood you with blessings after blessings. Everyone will talk about how
I have blessed you and about your wonderful business. I, the Lord
All-Powerful, have spoken.” (Malachi 3:10-11).
The tithe that we give will go to mission of healing, teaching and proclaiming the full gospel of salvation to many, in words and in deeds.
Stirring your gifts may also include helping your people grow in their moral and spiritual life. Some businessmen that I know invite or allow Christian teachers such as pastor/priest to conduct prayers and Bible Study among their employees. Examples of this category are the ENT Marketing and Brick-Over Enterprise. Several other businessmen purposely get pastors or priest to work as chaplains to counsel their people and pray for them in all their endeavors. I heard RJ Homes is an example, they have requested Rev. Palpito Dumanig as their chaplain. Even our beloved mayor recognized that the growth of the moral and spiritual life of the people of Davao city are important, thus he established the Davao City chaplaincy office and hired several pastor, priest and imans to help fan the moral spiritual life of our people especially the employees of our city government.
An example of a gift of compassion stirred up to its highest level could be the seen in the life of a businessman and his employees in Davao City. It started as a family business during the late eighties with few employees. Their business endeavor grew and they had to open a branch in Tagum City. As a Christian businessman they gave their employees the minimum wage and gave their benefits required by law. They also have a regular weekly Bible sharing where all their employees attend. Lately on the onset of the 2000 when business seems to be slow it came to a point when their business is not profitable at masaya na lang sila kung mag-break-even at the end of the month. The businessman was tempted several times to close shop. But every time he considers closing, he sees the family and children of his employees. What will happen to them if their parents working at their business be out of job? He had so much compassion on them and their families. The family courageously decided to press on and continue the business for the sake of their people, even if it is not giving profit. Remember, Jesus commended this kind of perspective and attitude in life, when he said, “When you did it to the least of my people, you have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).
The truth about all God fearing businessmen is that God has gifted you with many gifts in order for you to prosper and succeed in all your endeavors. In God’s eternal purpose God wanted you to use well and stir to it fullness God’s gift in you that you may become a blessing to others. The words of the Gospel described it well: “You are the salt of the earth” and “you are the light of the world glowing in the night for all to see…put it on a stand and let it shine for all. (Matthew 5:13-15).
Let me end this meditation with the encouraging words of John Wesley in his admonition to
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
(March 24, 2007, Davao City Full Gospel Bsinessmen’s Fellowship, International)