Do You Have Unused or Unclaimed Gifts?

Last year Harvard Business Review published a book titled Harvard Business Review, Stats & Curiosities. Among the statistics that it cites are these:

• 39.2 percent of shoppers will purchase a department store gift card for friends and family.
• 33.4 percent of shoppers will purchase a restaurant gift card for friends and family.
• According to estimates reported in the Journal of State Taxation, the typical American home has an average of $300 in unused or "unredeemed" gift cards. These cards are often misplaced, accidentally thrown out, or only partially redeemed.
• Between 2005 and 2011, $41 billion in gift cards went unused.

I have never had $300 in unused gift cards at home. There have been times, however, when I have forgotten I had a gift card and it took me a few months to use all of it. I do understand how people could forget to use a gift card.

Some people, however, refuse to use or even claim the gifts that God has given us. There are two primary references to those gifts in 1 Corinthians.

First, there is the gift of grace. In 1 Corinthians 1:4, Paul says, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” The word grace itself refers to an “undeserved gift” or “undeserved merit” that God gives us. Receiving the gift of God’s grace results, of course, in our salvation. Yet many people decide not to receive God’s gift and thus never experience eternal life. Of all the gifts you can decide not to claim, this is one you do not want to miss out on.

Second, there are spiritual gifts that God gives to believers. These gifts are given to us as a part of God’s grace. It is important that we understand and use our gifts, because it is through our gifts that God ministers to the church and the world. Yet many Christians either do not use their gifts or seek to know what gifts God has given them.

It is important that every follower of Christ exercise their spiritual gifts, that you exercise your spiritual gifts. Paul said, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” Our gifts come from God, and God does his work through us when we use our gifts.

Be sure you do not refuse the gift of grace or your spiritual gifts.