The message of Luke’s life is that our abilities can be used by God to help others experience Jesus for themselves. How are you using your gifts for God’s glory?

Luke is very much a background character in the New Testament.

Even though he wrote a gospel and the book of Acts, Luke deliberately switches the attention of the reader away from himself and onto others.

His primary concern is not to make himself look good but to first glorify Jesus and then the role of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Peter, Paul and others.

Whilst God delights in transforming people, He often takes their natural abilities and uses them for His glory.

For example, Jesus used Paul, a brilliant scholar of the Jewish faith, to explain how the new wineskin of salvation by faith flowed out of the Old Testament revelation of God.

Let's consider Luke's character and abilities and how God used them for His glory.

Luke was a doctor and was therefore a person with an inquiring, analytical mind who sought greater understanding of God's creation.

He would have been accustomed to asking people questions, verifying opinions, accumulating facts and keeping detailed records.

Luke would also have been concerned for people to experience wholeness and would have wanted to circulate knowledge of new (medical) understanding for the benefit of all humankind.

God used these characteristics of Luke's personality to research and write the life story of Jesus in his gospel.

It has been said that Luke is one of the greatest historians of all time because of his amazing attention to detail.

For example in Luke 2:1–2 he writes about the census when "Quirinius was governor of Syria", and in Luke 3:1–2 he lists the many rulers of the area at that time.

In fact Luke begins his work with: "It occurred to me that it would be well to recheck all these accounts (of Christ's life) from first to last, and after thorough investigation to pass this summary on to you to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught" (TLB).

Luke wholeheartedly offered himself and his abilities to God and was used in such an amazing way that we are still benefiting from his work 2,000 years later.

As far as we know Luke was not a great preacher and never performed a miracle, but his influence on Christianity over two millennia is almost without parallel.

We see in Luke's life a perfect example of the teaching in 1 Corinthians 12, that we are all members of the one body with immensely varied but equally valued gifts. Here we learn that some have gifts of helping those in need whilst others have "gifts of administration" (1 Cor 12:28).

It has been suggested that the average adult has over 300 different abilities. Some of these may seem insignificant and unimportant such as the ability to make a cup of tea.

However, to someone who is bed-ridden that ability may be a gift of God to them.

Helping in the church kitchen and providing drinks after meetings may be the first step in turning a stranger into a committed disciple.

Dorcas's ability as a seamstress was used to provide clothing for the poor and show God's love to others in a practical way (Acts 9:36–39).

One person in my church uses her ability to write encouraging letters to people in prison who have become Christians.

Missionary societies emphasise how our training and abilities can be used overseas to help others experience God's love and both facilitate and authenticate the preaching of the gospel.

For example, in poorer areas, a water engineer can dig a well, a mechanic can run machinery and a businessman can organise a project.

One commercial airline pilot who loved flying gave up his well-paid job to fly planes for a Christian organisation visiting remote villages to spread the gospel.

Nearer to home, one man took a course in car mechanics so he could use those skills as a platform to reach out to neighbours with car problems.

One message of Luke's life is that our abilities can be used by God to help others experience Jesus for themselves.

How are you using your gifts for God's glory?