What part of you was created to bless the lives of others? What gifts were you given? What traits?
Do you realize that we are shaped by the Creator intentionally while we are yet in our mother’s womb? Each personality trait, each characteristic was designed and mapped out prior to it’s evidence being displayed in us.
You and I were created to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves. When we accept the invitation to receive Jesus as our LORD and Savior, we are given gifts in addition to our personality strengths. We call those: spiritual gifts. While there are a variety of them, we are not given all of them. And yet, we are all given at least one gift.
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same LORD. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
Our gift comes from God for the purpose of helping one another. Not on our own accord. On our own we are limited and weak. But God does this work in us and through us. He is our source of provision for the gift and the source of power that comes from using it.
What are these gifts?
“To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the One Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the One and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.” (1 Corinthians 12:8-11)
We do not choose our gifts. The Spirit chooses them for us. The gifts hold different abilities and contribute in a variety of ways to build one another up in our faith and daily life. These gifts are different than our talents. God may have given me talents in music or in writing, but my spiritual gift may be discernment. Ideally we use both our talents and our spiritual gifts to build the body of the church and contribute to its overall health and growth. We are part of a body. Christ is the head. We are the contributing supporting parts of that body.
For some of us, we question if the gifts and talents that we have received are important within the life of the body. We wonder or question why we didn’t receive more gifts or even different gifts. It’s not about us. This is not like being brought to the department store and being asked to pick out your birthday present. God has a specific plan and purpose for all that He does. He knows what the body needs. And He provides it.
“But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it.” (1 Corinthians 12:18)
You were designed by God. For God. With intentionality. Whatever gift He has given you is a necessary part of the body of the church. The body of Christ. If you are unsure of what your gifts are, I would suggest: ask God to show you, and take a spiritual inventory test.
May we never hold back from God, that which is given to us to be a blessing in the lives of one another.
Blessings!