Your Appointed Work

Marie lived many years ago. She came from a poor farm family in Kentucky, and left home at seventeen to be married. She lived an ordinary life, filled with hard work and little extra. But Marie had a God-given musical talent. She could play piano, guitar, and violin “by ear.” She never took a music lesson, but throughout her life, she blessed many with her musical ability during weddings and church services. Marie wasn’t one of a chosen few, she was just like every one of us. She had a gift from God–her appointed work– and she used it for the benefit of others.

Many would say that she had something special from God, a gifting that most do not receive. Perhaps some around her were jealous, wishing they could play beautiful music as effortlessly as she. But in the book of John, chapter 3, verse 27, we are told that it is God who distributes gifts as He sees fit, and the truth is that no one is overlooked: John answered, A man can receive nothing (he can claim nothing, he can take unto himself nothing) except as it has been granted to him from heaven. (A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven; there is no other source.)

What is your appointed work? Do you have a gift in music, or teaching, ministry or creating? Our gifts are precious in God’s sight. Instead of envy and jealousy toward the gifts appointed to another, instead of letting their talents make us feel diminished, we must be faithful to do our appointed work for the Lord. True contentment comes from receiving that gift from heaven, the only true source.