1 Timothy 4:14

Neglect not the gift that is in thee.

An ordination charge

If the supernatural gifts with which Timothy was endowed were in danger of suffering injury from the neglect of the zealous, ardent, devoted evangelist, how much greater is your danger of neglecting the gift that is in you, and of suffering injury from its neglect? I have seen the desolation of a negligent ministry, if you have not. By neglect his gift seems to have decayed and died out of him. He preaches, but not as he once preached. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not say that every unsuccessful minister has neglected the gift that is in him. I am very far from saying so. Some have small ministerial gifts, little preaching power. Paul, in his younger days, made full proof of his ministry. He neglected not the gift that was in him. What gift have you? What qualification for the ministry which all true ministers have? You have the one great gift of the Holy Ghost, a renewed heart. Is this your gift? Do not neglect it. Strive to attain more of this blessed, living experience of the great truths you have to preach. I once heard a good man and a good preacher well known and greatly honoured in this town, say, in the retrospect of a long and prosperous ministry, I have nothing to boast of, for my voice has done more for my success than my intellectual power.” I admired the modesty of the preacher, who, though favoured by a musical voice, had no reason to speak disparagingly of his intellectual powers. But he was wise enough to form a right estimate of the adventitious gifts of which, without being vain, he knew how to make a good use. To be vain of such things would be indeed a little, pitiable vanity. Yet, like John Angell James, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” “Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” The words seem to say, Cultivate your own gifts; those which are natural to you. Do not be solicitous about gifts which God has not given you. (R. Halley, D. D.)

Benefit of using personal gifts

Think, too, of the benefits to be derived in our own souls by personal service. God will never let a man be a loser by serving Him. The dense vapours that rise from earth to heaven return in pure water; so he who gives to God such as he has, shall receive from Him a good return. The spear that is used contracts no rust; the sword that is continually wielded remains untarnished; the arm in constant use becomes occasionally weary, but increasingly strong; so the child of God who labours for his master, though often wearied, gains great strength through that which he expends. The placid lake is sealed up in winter’s frost from shore to shore, but the running rivulet escapes its power. The bewildered traveller on the Alps, half benumbed with cold, gets fresh circulation and warmth by his exertions to restore animation to the body of another. The reason why we have so many benumbed and frozen Christians in the present day is, that there are few personally employed in the work. We long for the time when every believer like the little waterfall and the alpine traveller shall be too active to freeze. Personal service brings its own reward; watering others, we are watered ourselves; warming others, we are ourselves warmed; blessing others, we ourselves are blessed. Do you say, what can God do by one? I reply, very much! By one He brought forth His chosen people from Egypt’s thraldom; by one (and that a youth) Goliath was slain while the whole army of Israel trembled before him; by one the assembled Israelites were convinced that “The Lord He is God,” and the prophets of Baal were slain; by one sermon, and that a simple one, three thousand hearts were opened. Time would fail to tell of what God has done by such men as Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin, Huss, Whitfield, Wesley, Pounds, Harlan Page, and why not you? (G. Brown.)