So, here's a small break from heavy philosophical ponderings...maybe.
The Bible says we all have at least one spiritual gift. It gives a long list of gifts in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and a few other places. Most people have taken one of more "tests" to tell them what their spiritual gift is.
So here's the puzzle...is my spiritual gift something I'm naturally good at? Should I be able to exercise it easily? I'm guessing no to both questions based on my own experience. Also, God seems to want us to struggle with most things, so it can't come all that easily. On the other hand, if it's too hard I'll never figure it out.
So, dear reader (assuming you're there), what is your spiritual gift? How do you know what it is? What effect does having that particular gift have on your life?
17 comments:
This is a tricky one. I've got to believe that my gift is at least something I enjoy doing.
Otherwise it's not something I'm necessarily good at or necessarily something I enjoy - so what makes it a gift?
I'd say mine is teaching, particularly adults, and one-on-one ministry. I can tell you what's NOT my gift (at least in the sense of not being good at it and not enjoying it): evangelism. I know, weird coming from the child of missionaries.
Rob -- Hurray! A new post!!
I took one of those 100 question spriritual gift "tests" that you can access on-line and apparently, my spiritual gifts are encouragement and hospitality with teaching not far behind.
I like all of these things, so I would err on the side of saying that your spiritual gift is probably something that you're pretty good at doing and not something that you run from.
However - I do think that God often asks us to do hard things; to step out of the box and take a risk; to allow HIM to enable us. To do this - we have to do things that we are, per se, uncomfortable with. What's that old saying..."God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." (or something like that...)
I wonder about those tests (I've done a couple of them}. Do you think it's reasonable to answer a few leading questions and then find out how God has gifted you? Seems a little superficial somehow.
eMonk, what makes it a gift is the giver. Maybe it's not supposed to make me comfortable. But then, God is in the habit of giving good things, so maybe you're right.
I've always had trouble with this spiritual gift thing. I think mine is wisdom and discernment, yeah singing, but... sometimes I wonder if we have a little of each at different times in our lives, maybe even different circumstances, depending on how God distributes them.
Sometimes I think we don't have anything to do with our spiritual gifting. How do I explain my thoughts here...
One time I was eating lunch with a friend, and she was telling me about her sister, who (I'll just be frank here) is gay. They had just found out, and the family (Christians) was struggling with how to deal with it. And I said to her, I didn't even think about it, but I said, "And now she's living with her girlfriend. How are you guys doing with that?"
And she just looked up at me, surprised. I asked her, "Did you tell me that? How did I know that?" I didn't even know her sister had a girlfriend. My friend told me that no, they hadn't told anyone, and she wondered how I knew. Lucky guess, maybe? But I knew. Almost like I had always known.
Is that the gift of knowledge?
A week later I saw her sister at my friend's baby shower, sitting alone and completely out of place, and I knew I was supposed to be her friend that afternoon. Or maybe I was supposed to pray for my friend's sister, of just be a support for my friend. I don't know why God revealed that to me, but I think it had something to do with...my friend wouldn't have told me and needed to.
All this to say, it was completely God's doing, nothing of my will.
It's only happened one other time that I can remember, in my whole entire life.
Yeah...I really did take the "test" -- but the quotation marks were meant to be read as tongue-in-cheek.
However - I will say that the questions asked inspired me to think of some abilities as "gifts" where I might not have otherwise have thought so.
I think our spiritutal gift is most certainly something we enjoy doing and that we do well. God gave us our personalities and our talents...and these are indeed "gifts"...then when we dedicate these talents and ablities to God and His work, He blesses those efforts. If we enjoy singing and we're willing to sing for Him, He blesses that. If we love to teach, and we submit to teaching His word, He blesses that and those who sit under that teaching...and on and on it goes. He annoints our willingness, our efforts, and our work in His name with His spirit and all concerned receive a blessing. It's a beautiful thing.
I've heard people make a distinction between talents, defined as natural abilities everyone has, and spiritual gifts which God gives to believers via his Holy Spirit. I'm not sure whether that distinction is valid but it makes sense to me. Of course, some of the spiritual gifts Paul lists are more clearly supernatural than others. For example, the ability to work miracles clearly is. But the "gift of administration" sounds more like a natural talent.
One example that seems to live at the crossroads is the gift of teaching. I believe many people have a natural ability to teach, i.e., to help people learn. However, I think of the gift of teaching as involving the Holy Spirit more directly. Someone with this gift has a God-given ability to open the Scriptures to us - to help us interpret them properly. It's more than just a communication skill.
Have any of you ever heard someone make a distinction between natural talents and spiritual gifts? What do you think?
As I was thinking about your question, Bill, I went back to those lists of spiritual gifts mentioned in the verses Rob gave, and "singing" isn't mentioned. Why do I remember it being lumped in with spiritual gifts? Is it ever defined as a spiritual gift in Scripture? I know we're told to sing and make music. I know it's a command, but maybe not a spiritual gift.
I think making a distinction between a "natural talent" and a "spiritual gift" is correct.
While I agree with Popcorn that God will bless the effort in offering a gift to him, a sacrifice of praise, absolutely, I also do think there is a difference between a talent and a spiritual gift. A talent can be called a "gift", but should still be differentiated from a "spiritual gift."
The passage re: spiritual gifts in 1 Cor. states, "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." (v. 7) So in spiritual gifts the actual display, indication, evidence of the Spirit of God is given to us. That's pretty incredible to think about. And it's always for the common good of the body. And it most importantly leads to love.
So I think about that with the gift of administration. Is the administration of God's people different than the natural gift of administration? I think so. It must require extreme patience, long suffering, a gentle spirit, the ability to guide and order without bullying...among many other things, and most importantly it will be done out of love and to spur one another on in love. But the fact that it is a gift means that it will come naturally to a person.
Fancy, thanks for pointing me to v. 7 and the phrase "manifestation of the Spirit". That's the key, isn't it? It's all about God working in his power through us to benefit the Church.
You're right, singing isn't in the lists of spiritual gifts. But 1 Cor 14:15 talks about "singing with the spirit". I think that's a reference to using your natural talent to express a heart of worship toward God. There are also references in Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16 to singing spiritual songs and "making music in your heart to the Lord." So I think you're covered!
All Glory goes to God. You can have a spiritual gift without having natural ability, but you cannot have a natural ability without including (using) a spiritual gift.
To separate, or categorize, something as a natural ability versus a spiritual gift, in my opinion, is a secular view. When we use our natural ability to do something, it is based in one or many spiritual gifts. To Fancypants' example, she used her spiritual gifts of discernment (recognizing an added issue not explicitly revealed) and of mercy (seeing the person alone at an event) to witness without preaching. She didn't say to herself "how do I use my spiritual gifts in this situation?" - she just acted.
I enjoy taking those tests with the leading questions because they validate what I already know. The issue I do have with such exercises is that it is one more thing where we hope to categorize others and ourselves.
Why can't we just be? Why so much analysis (which is something I would think Rob enjoys :))
I am glad to know where I fit as a result of a test, in order to help me see where I might serve our church, but when it comes to serving God, my goal is to make that overreaching, expanding myself spiritually.
I relate it to IQ tests in a way. On an IQ scale, I MIGHT come up shorter than others, but that is not to say that I wouldn't add as much value to situations, conversations, etc as someone with a higher IQ.
I hope no one lets themselves be limited by a test, or a category. I know God doesn't limit what we can do through him.
God gives us lots of gifts and abilities as part of who we are. All that I am is a gift from God, I didn't create anything of who I am. He did it all.
But does he give us some "special ability to serve and strengthen the body of Christ" as well? That's what I've always thought of as a "Spiritual Gift." Something more than just who I am and what I like to do or what I'm good at. Is a spiritual gift like a special power or ability?
If it's just one of the things I'm especially good at, then why does Paul make such a big deal out of it, and why does he leave out so many areas of giftedness?
Something more than just who I am and what I like to do or what I'm good at. Is a spiritual gift like a special power or ability?
I think that's correct, Rob. God has gifted me with the ability to sing well, but it doesn't make it a Spiritual Gift. We're all told to sing! Over and over again we're told to sing.
But with spiritual gifts, we're instructed to stay in our own lane. If you prophesy, then prophesy. If you heal, then heal. If you (gasp) speak in tongues, then speak in tongues. But don't everyone go trying to speak in tongues because it sounds great and looks great. And don't feel bad if you can't heal, or speak in tongues, or prophesy.
But everyone: SING! =-)
All that to say: I'm not sure we operate in our spiritual gift(s) because we're "good at it." I think we operate in our spiritual gift because we're compelled by the Spirit to do so. I know my husband has the spiritual gift of encouragement. Sometimes I don't think he knows how much he's encouraged someone until after it's done, and their lives have changed for the better because of those words. A very powerful thing. What I see is that he is compelled to say those words. He feels he must say them.
Of course, then he sits down at the piano, and the Spirit moves through his playing. So what is that? Not a spiritual gift...a talent...but something different?
It seems to me that if God gives it to us (whether we perceive it to be a talent or just a special ability to serve the body of Christ or some other definition) then we must be per se "good at it." Right? I mean...if it's not from us - it's from God - we should be supernaturally good at it. (That's not to say that we especially enjoy it - although, generally we enjoy the things we do well.)
Yes! I think you've stated it very well Fancy. "Stay in our own lane" is such a good metaphor. It's like the HOV lanes, there's no way to get out so you're compelled to stay there. All you can do is put the pedal down and GO!
Maybe one of the differences between spiritual gifts and natural talents is how good we are. While everyone has natural talents, there is a tremendous variation in the quality of those talents (the difference between your singing and my singing, for example!). Since a spiritual gift is in a way not me but God acting, maybe there's not as much (or any?) difference in the end result. Just a thought, no scriptural support whatever!
Something more than just who I am and what I like to do or what I'm good at. Is a spiritual gift like a special power or ability?
Yes, that's my impression, too. When I think of the spiritual gifts I think of some special empowerment that goes beyond whatever my natural abilities might be. That doesn't mean God can't match my spiritual gift to my personality and talents. In fact, I think he often does. But what I don't like about some of the "tests" is that they often just seem like personality tests. The gift of prophecy is more than just a propensity for telling people off. And the gift of teaching is more than just the urge to tell people what they should believe. In each case, the purpose must be the edification of the church and the substance must be a message of truth from God that he has put in our hearts to deliver at that time and in that way.
OK, how bout this?
The result of a Spiritual Gift is observed and measured, not through my own efforts while using the gift, but by God's.
Let's take teaching, for example. And I'll use Tim Keller (at Redeemer here in NY) in this example because I think the sense he makes out of is Scripture is out of this world good.
Tim Keller prepares a sermon. He uses his brain and books and references as any other teacher would. When Tim gets in front of the body to deliver his teaching, the Holy Spirit moves and brings an understanding to the hearer of the word. This movement happens through Tim, but despite Tim. Another without the gift of teaching could have used Tim's notes, Tim's books, Tim's references, and the result would not be the same, no matter how much the other teacher studied, trained, learned, etc.
SCL, I think you're right in that the person with whatever gift will be "good at it." I also think I can become better at a talent or "normal" gift through my own efforts. I can become a better singer by taking lessons. But can a person with the Spiritual Gift of prophesy become *better* at phophesying?
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