Discovering Your Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:7

Many Christians today have gotten the idea that doing what God wants you to do is always dreary and unpleasant; that Christians must always make choices between doing what they want to do and being happy on the one hand, versus doing what God wants them to do and being completely miserable on the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. The exercise of a spiritual gift is always a satisfying, enjoyable experience, though sometimes the occasion on which it is exercised may be an unhappy one. Jesus said it was his constant delight to do the will of the One who sent him. The Father's gift awakened his own desire and He went about doing what he intensely enjoyed doing.

A workable plan for discovering your spiritual gifts starts with the gifts you feel drawn toward. Study the biblical lists of gifts and try exercising those gifts which most appeal to you. Watch for improvement and development. Do you get better at it as you go along? Do you find your initial fears subsiding and a growing sense of competence developing? Finally, ask trusted Christian friends to observe your life and tell you what gifts they see in you. Often, others can see our lives more clearly than we can, and they can help to affirm gifts in us which we cannot clearly see as yet. In fact, the observation of other Christians provide us with a good reality check for our spiritual gifts. Many Christians wonder, Do I have a certain spiritual gift, or don't I? Do others recognize this gift in you? When someone says to you, quite unsolicited, We'd like you to take on this ministry, we think you have a gift for it, then you can be reasonably sure you have that gift.

One of the best things you can do for another Christian is to help them discover his or her spiritual gifts. It is much better for others to affirm authentic gifts in you than for you to lay pretentious claims to gifts you might not actually have! One great Bible teacher used to say, It's such a pity to see someone who thinks he has the gift of preaching — but no one in his congregation has the gift of listening!

Gifts need to be exercised just as talents do. Practice tends to make perfect. As skill in the exercise of a gift develops, the spiritual blessing it brings will become increasingly evident. You will find yourself seeking more and more occasions in which to use your gift. But remember: that gift was not given to you for your own personal advancement, but as a means to spiritually enrich others. As Paul reminds us, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).

Hardly anyone discovers all his gifts at the beginning of his Christian experience. Gifts, like talents, may lie undiscovered for years, then emerge when a certain combination of needs or circumstances brings them to light. It is wise to always be ready to try something new. Who knows but what the Spirit of God has put you on the doorstep of a new endeavor for the express purpose of helping you discover gifts you never knew you had!

Father, open my awareness to unexplored ways I can exercise the gifts you have given me. Use me for your glory.