Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6
A leader in a particular evangelical denomination was speaking of a church in a city that he frequented. This particular church has a beautiful building in an excellent location near to places where many people live. The building has excellent facilities, including seating for more than 600 people. But attendance never reaches 600 there; in fact, it seldom exceeds 50, and the Sunday School numbers are no better. The pastor there receives a good salary, and he conducts services regularly and orderly. But he never makes an effort to go into the community with the Gospel, nor does he encourage others in his congregation to do so. As the leader spoke about that church in obvious frustration, he wondered aloud what could be accomplished if only the pastor and his congregation could get stirred up in reaching out with the Gospel message in their community. Getting stirred up is important to getting anything done for God, whether in the Gospel or any other aspect of our Christian lives.
Paul urges Timothy in our text to stir up the gift that was in him. What did he mean by that? That’s an important question, about an exhortation by an older Christian toward a younger Christian. Should we be encouraging young Christians today to be stirring up the gift that is in them? Or do they have the type of gift that Paul refers to in our text? After all, Timothy’s gift was identified by Paul as he laid his hands on his protege. But Paul was an apostle; if anybody tries to identify your gift in this manner, remind them that they are not an apostle. We all have gifts, talents, abilities, and opportunities that God has given to us (1 Corinthians 12:11). Why did God give us these? That we might serve Him and testify for Him. That means if we don’t stir up the gift that is in us, God is robbed of the service that is His due.
Stirring up the gift means identifying it and putting it into effect. What is your gift? I can’t say. And maybe you can’t either, at least not yet. But God has never yet revealed His will for any believer while that believer sat around waiting for the revelation. When Paul, as Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, asked what the Lord would have him to do, the Lord did not reveal his purpose at that moment, but told Saul to go into the city and he would eventually learn what he was to do (Acts 9:6). If we are to have our gift stirred up, we must have ourselves stirred up first. If God is to reveal His will to us in His Word, we must be diligent in searching the Word. If He is to reveal His will to us in the work we are to do, we must get busy working at what He places in front of us in service for Him. Instruction from the Word, guidance from more experienced Christians, practice in the tasks that are available to us in the Assembly; these are all part of the stirring up of the gift that is in us.
If you put yourself into this effort, God can lead you. If no real direction seems to come, take it that the Lord wants you to be a good general-purpose Christian for now, and keep stirring. -Jim MacIntosh