Day 164: How Do We Discover and Use Our Gifts?
This is the main question that many have: “How do I know what my gift is???” Before we even deal with this question, I think it is important to understand that you do not simply have a spiritual gift or gifts, but that YOU are the gift that Christ has given to His Body the Church. We like to focus on our gifts because it is easy to quantify what we do. We have all been influenced by the subtle lie (especially here in the US) that what we do is more important than who we are. In the Body of Christ who you are (the whole person) is of first importance. What you do simply flows out of your true identity in Christ.
It also important to understand what a spiritual gift is not. Your spiritual gift is not the place of your service. Your spiritual gift is not an office that you hold. Your spiritual gift is not necessarily a natural talent. Your spiritual gift is not a ministry to a specific age group. So with those few things in mind, lets deal with issue of how we come to know our gift(s).
Interestingly, we are never admonished in the New Testament to discover our gifts! Let me repeat that: We are never told to “discover” or figure out our spiritual gift! So what does this mean? Let’s make several observations that will help us deal with this issue:
1) Most of the Gifts are things that we should all be doing. | If you look at the list of the gifts on the previous pages, you will notice that all of the non-miraculous gifts are to be pursued as normal practices of every believer. We are all to be merciful. We are all to be servants. There are some that are more gifted and effective in each of these areas.
2) We need humility and perspective. | We may not be able to discern our gifts because we are often unaware (or immaturely self-deceived!) about the reality of our ministry to others. Be open to hearing from others about how the Lord is working in and through you most effectively. As you serve together with others, it will become evident to others how the Lord has gifted you. Those with prophetic gifts may also give direction in this area (remember Timothy?)
3) Greatest Weakness—Greatest Glory. | Often our gift(s) do not show up in the area of our greatest “natural” strengths but in the areas of our greatest weakness. The Lord delights in showing the power of His grace in weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 where the Lord teaches Paul, “My power is perfected in your weakness!”). The Lord almost always leads us to places where we must trust and depend on Him!
4) Our Passion can direct us. | Think about the areas of life that make you come alive; it is here that you may find your gift(s) surfacing.
5) Serve others and your gift(s) will become evident. | As we engage in ministry to others, our gifts simply come to the surface.
6) Some may be given multiple gifts. | This is surely the case with Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers since they train the whole body for the work of service.
7) Your Gift or Gifts may change in time or for the needs at hand. | There is no indication that gifts are permanent. Paul practiced the gift of healing early in his ministry (see Acts 28:8) but in a similar case later in his life, he did not heal (see 2 Timothy 4:20). This may indicate that gifts are given in line with the needs of a certain situation. Remember: these gifts belong to the Spirit and He gives them as He sees fit under the administration of Jesus and the Father.
Let me give a couple of stories that illustrate some of these points. I grew up with a terrible speech problem; I could not get one word out of my mouth without stuttering or stammering. Sometimes I could not even begin talking at all. What has the Lord gifted me and called me to do? Teach. I spend most of my time talking. I have never been through speech therapy. Do I still struggle with my speech problems? Yes. Do I love to teach? Yes. In fact, I feel compelled to teach. I have a real sense that this is what the Lord has me here to do.
Now I would have never come to some of these conclusions on my own. In fact, if you had told me years ago that I would be talking for a living I would have thought you were crazy. Yet others in the Body of Christ who were my mentors and teachers saw in me the gifts that I could not see myself. It was others who set me on the path of teaching. And I am forever grateful.
Let me simply suggest to you that as you spend time with other believers, purposefully pursuing the ministry of service that the Lord has entrusted to us, your gifts will become apparent.
How Do the Gifts Fit in the Body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 12:12–26
For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ…15 If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 16 And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? 18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. 19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be? 20 So now there are many members, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” 22 On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, 23 and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, 24 but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. 26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it.
As we hear in this passage, we should think about The Body of Christ like the physical human body. Our bodies are made up of many very different types of “members” but they are all united in the working and functioning of the One Body. So also are we in Christ. God has organized The Body of Christ according to His wisdom and purpose.
In His wisdom, the Lord has made the “weaker” or “lesser” members of the Body of Christ more essential in its working. This teaches us that each member of Christ’s Body has a significant and indispensable role in the Body. In this context, we use our gifts to serve one another, to build one another up, to shore up one another’s weaknesses, to work together, having mutual concern for one another.
Our gifts are not given to us so that we may “glorify” ourselves—”look at me, check out how great I am!” Our gifts are given to us so that in humility we serve one another and so bring glory to Father God who has gifted us in Christ through the work of His Spirit.
KEY Growth Stage: Becoming FRUITFUL.
Throughout MilktoMeat we have been developing our key growth stages. So far we have discussed AWARE>ALIVE>AWAKE>FREE>FAITHFUL. As you can see, these build on one another. Our last stage is FRUITFUL. Jesus used the images of fruit and fruitfulness to talk about producing life and things worthy of the Kingdom. In John 15, He gives the parable of the Vine in which He is the vine and we are the branches. He makes it clear that we can only bear good fruit by “remaining” or “abiding” in Him. 2 Peter 1:4-7 lists the qualities that we should both have and be growing in so that we will not become “useless and unfruitful.” Being fruitful in Christ means producing the life of goodness that He intends for you. It means becoming Christlike. It also means helping others discover and grow in the Way of Jesus. As you can see in the context of this our study so far, you have been gifted to the Church to do this very thing.
Take a look at the suggestions about discovering your gift again. Work through each of these.
What do you discover about yourself? Write out a few thoughts about what comes to mind.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
