OUTLINE:

A Beautiful Willingness
If Jesus, our Great Shepherd, loved the way He did, what kind of love do you think He endows His under-shepherds with? If these men are your examples to “imitate” (Heb 13:7), don’t you think He gives you access to this same love?

Php 2:2-3
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

Perspective On Spiritual Gifts
The “gift” is to the Church, the Body of Christ. It is a gift to the Bride from her Bridegroom (Jesus Christ). Your spiritual gift(s) is not about YOU, it is about your benefit to the Church, for others.

Let It Be “Of God”
PLEASE do not persist in self-determination. Always remember that spiritual gifts are a function of God’s grace. We CANNOT ever pigeonhole God’s will.(ref: Is 55:8)

Crawl if you must.

So. Be. It.
Accept who you are. God makes no mistakes. Depend wholly on the grace of God to sustain you, even if you’re crawling towards the finish line! (2Ti 4:7)

2Ti 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

Eph 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ro 12:3
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. [Faith to accompany your spiritual gift so that your confidence in the Lord’s choice exists]

Ro 12:6
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith.

“proportion”
from analogia - where we get the English word “analogy”; means analogous reasoning, moving from one point of a comparison (up) to the other.

“proportion”
In the classical Greek, this word was used as a mathematical term (Vincent, who quotes Plato, “The fairest bond is that which most completely fuses and is fused into the things which are bound; and proportion (analogia) is best adapted to effect the fusion.”) (Wuest)

Ro 12:6
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith.

Seek love, for love’s sake.

If the Lord is your confidence, then YOU are not.

Christian Love
The hallmark of Christ-like love is selflessness. In every way, this remains true. In every interaction, it is the driving force. It "lives" for others.

1Co 13:13
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

We love because we know. (1Jn 4:16-19)

Christian Love
The hallmark of Christ-like love is selflessness. In every way, this remains true. In every interaction, it is the driving force. It "lives" for others.

Christian Love
Living for others doesn't mean doing the best you can for them, from your OWN perspective, it means doing the best you can for them while considering THEIR perspective. This requires discipline, integrity, and humility (ref: 1Co 8:9-13; 9:19-23; Mt 5:38-48)

1Co 13:2b [Amplified Classic]
...if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

Read your Bible! Fear God.