Nothing Wasted: Offering Your Whole Self to God

A man spends his whole life learning a trade that feels ordinary—so ordinary it’s easy to assume it has little to do with the kingdom of God. Then, one day, God opens a door. A conversation. A need. A vision for renewal in a place marked by deep loss.

That “ordinary” skill becomes a gift.

A friend once grew up on a pig farm in eastern North Carolina. He lived it, learned it, and eventually ran the business. Years later, after his family relocated, he sat in a small group and listened to a Ugandan believer describe a community in northern Uganda torn apart by war—widows, orphans, and a long road toward stability. The vision wasn’t only relief; it was sustainability: education, trades, farming, and ways for people to rebuild life with dignity. One of the needs was simple and specific: help starting a piggery.

Within months, that former pig farmer—who had rarely traveled and never imagined his experience mattered much for ministry—was on a plane, headed to Uganda, bringing knowledge that would help a broken community take steps toward strength.

Here’s the point: God wants all of you. Not just the parts of you that feel “churchy.” And when your life is placed into his hands, nothing is wasted.

God redeems ordinary ability and turns it outward into love.

Romans 12 calls believers to whole-life stewardship—offering ourselves to God in response to mercy. If God has loved us, saved us, and begun to remake us, then we’re invited to steward everything he has entrusted to us: time, talents, and treasures (Romans 12:1–2).

That means the question isn’t simply, “What am I good at?” It’s also, “How do my abilities become worship—humble, communal, and shaped by genuine love?”

God supplies gifts to his people in more than one way. Scripture helps us see two complementary streams.

1) Talents formed by providence
Some abilities are shaped over time: personality, wiring, education, work experience, opportunity, and even hardship. You didn’t create yourself. God’s quiet care has been forming you through the years.

Scripture is full of examples where God advances his purposes through people whose faithfulness looks ordinary.

• Shiphrah and Puah were midwives (Exodus 1:15–21). They feared God more than earthly power, used their skills to protect life, and the Lord used their courage to preserve a generation.
• Bezalel and Oholiab were craftsmen (Exodus 31:1–6). God had shaped their intelligence and ability—then called them to build a place where his presence would dwell among his people.
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The pattern is striking: God doesn’t bypass everyday skill. He redeems it, directs it, and uses it.

So consider: what are you good at? What do others come to you for? Where do you come alive when you’re helping? What have you learned that could become love-in-action for someone else?

2) Gifts given by the Holy Spirit
Romans 12 also describes gifts that differ “according to the grace given to us” (Romans 12:6–8): serving, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, mercy, and more. These are grace-empowered abilities given by the Holy Spirit to believers for building up the church and doing good to others. (See also 1 Corinthians 12:4–7; Ephesians 4:11–13; 1 Peter 4:10–11.)

Whether your ability was shaped slowly through years or given and strengthened by the Spirit in your life with Christ, the conclusion is the same: your gifts are entrusted grace.

Romans 12 doesn’t just tell us we’re gifted—it teaches us how those gifts should be carried.

Humility without comparison
Because gifts are received, not earned, humility becomes possible. Humility doesn’t mean pretending you have nothing to offer. It means refusing to compare yourself as though the body of Christ only needs one kind of member. Paul’s picture in 1 Corinthians 12 is almost humorous—body parts wishing they were something else—but it exposes something real: comparison fractures community (1 Corinthians 12:14–20).

Unity and community
Your abilities are not mainly for self-display. They are meant to serve the “one another” life of the church (Romans 12:4–5). Gifts are given so that the body can be strengthened, supported, and built up.

Genuine love that honors others
Romans 12:9–10 calls for love that is real—not performative, not self-serving. A searching question helps here: When you use your gifts, do people feel honored—or do they feel small? Gifts can be bent inward. Competence can become independence. Leadership can become control. Service can become subtle pride. Genuine love keeps turning outward.

Wholehearted devotion sustained by hope and prayer
Romans 12:11–12 reminds us that faithful service must be sustained. Hope and prayer aren’t accessories; they’re strength. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). That’s how endurance grows—and how burnout is resisted.

• Name it. Identify the abilities God has formed in you and the ways the Spirit may have gifted you. Ask others who know you well what they see. Pray for clarity.
• Place it. Decide where your gifts can become concrete love—in the church, in your home, and in the community.
• Do it. Start small if needed, but start. If you already serve, recommit to serving with your whole heart: dependable, prayerful, and joyful.

Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The deepest foundation for all stewardship is not our skill—it’s his finished work. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We could not rescue ourselves. Christ did the work we could not do.

And now, in mercy, he invites his people into a life where nothing is wasted—not your story, not your skills, not your gifts. Brought under his lordship, they become worship. Offered in humility, they become strength for the body. Expressed in love, they become blessing for others.