Discerning Our Spiritual Gifts
By Kyle Norman
Bible Reading:
“Now about Spiritual gifts, beloved, I do not want you to be uninformed.” - 1 Corinthians 12:1
Recently, I spent some time engaging in a myriad of personality type indicator tests. These weren’t the personality tests you get in a counseling office, or a psychologist’s office, ones well-researched and grounded in psychological theory. No, these were whatever Google pointed me to. Ones with engaging titles like: “What animal are you?” and “What type of ice cream are you? But I didn’t stop there. I also took the more spiritually minded tests, tests to help me figure out my spiritual gift. Many of these asked spiritually astute questions such as “Do you enjoy spending time in a hardware store?” or “Can you play a musical instrument?” My personal favorite was, “Do you enjoy exposing the sins in other people.”
When it comes to spiritual gifts, there can be lots of confusion. We either place undue emphasis on ecstatic gifts (healing, tongues, prophecy), or we assume that spiritual gifts are merely for the elite, the uber-holy. The fact is spiritual gifts are a part of our life with Christ. Despite what the online test indicated, enjoying hardware stores is not a spiritual gift – nor are the talents we grow into through natural ability or practice. So, playing guitar is not a spiritual gift.
Paul writes that a spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). The gifts that God gives us are windows through which the Spirit is revealed. But the important thing about this is that it doesn’t highlight our ability. See, a spiritual gift is never something that we get to take pride in – as if it somehow spiritually props us up.
In fact, spiritual gifts aren’t about us at all, it is about the way the Holy Spirit moves through us for the life of the community. There is always a communal focus. And because of this, gifts aren’t given to the special and spiritual elite. Who is given spiritual gifts? Everyone! This means that you, dear listener, are spiritually gifted.
Paul writes, “There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God at work in all of them and in all people” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). Notice how expansive this is. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, your abilities, or how long you have been in the church; spiritual gifts are a function of what the Holy Spirit does – and wants to do – through us. Spiritual gifts are not based on your abilities but on your faith in Christ and your baptism in the Spirit.
How, then, might you discern what your spiritual gift is? How might you exercise your spiritual gift? Well, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul labors to explain to the Corinthians that spiritual gifts are about the life of the community and that gifts are to work together. This is in contrast to the Corinthians, who had gotten into the habit of emphasizing the ecstatic gifts to such a degree that there were divisions in the church. Paul tells them that they should seek the gifts that help build up one another in the Spirit. And then, in verse 31, Paul says this: “And I will show you the most excellent way”; in other words, I will show you how you discern and exercise your spiritual gifts in the community. And then, in the very next verse, Paul writes, “If I speak in tongues of men and angels but have not love, I’m just a gong; If I prophecy, if I have knowledge, if I have faith to move mountains but have not love I’m nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2) In other words, Spiritual gifts are rooted in love.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
If we want to discern our spiritual gifts, the question we ask ourselves is not, do I like playing with tools, but where does my love for the community and my love for God intersect? Because it’s at this intersection that the Holy Spirit is working. Someone might say, I feel particularly drawn to make sure that people feel welcomed in times of fellowship. We might call that the gift of hospitality. Others might say they want to ensure that the life of the community is orderly, and runs smoothly, and everyone knows what’s going on. We might call that the gift of administration. Another person might say that I feel particularly drawn to pray with other people. This is the gift of prayer. When it comes to spiritual gifts mentioned in scripture there is no exhaustive list. The issue is this: where does your love for God and your love for the community meet? It is this place that points to our spiritual gifts.
What might it look like for you to be open to a manifestation of the Spirit to bless the community of faith that you are part of? Where is the Spirit moving in your life? What blessing might be around the corner, just waiting for a variety of gifts to come together in a way that highlights the richness of the Spirit’s activity in your community? Because if the Holy Spirit is moving in that direction, why would we want to stand in the way?
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