"Gifts"

According to the Bible, we each have a special gift given to us by God. Obviously we have different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses, different tendencies and different talents. But we also, according to Romans 12:4-8, are given a “gift” by the Holy Spirit when we become followers of Christ.

It’s different from the “fruit” of the Spirit, the side-effects of having a growing relationship with God. Those are listed in Galations 5:22 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it. Those are the things that happen naturally when we’re in a growing relationship with God, because that’s what blossoms in our lives when we’re obedient and engaged. It’s an organic thing. You plant closeness with God, you grow love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

Being a rather “particular” person (let’s say) I tend to get hung up a lot on “shoulds,” as in, I should be perfect. It’s quite the burden. Self-inflicted, of course. God never told me I should be the best at everything and play all the parts in the musical of my life. In fact, he seems to be saying in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 that I will play only one role in the “body” of Christ. Hand, foot, armpit...not all three.

I think, in this modern age of multi-tasking, that we assume the “one” part of gifting isn’t a hard rule. I’ve heard people say you often get two or three. Why excel in one area when we could be reasonably good in three?

It leaves me feeling underachieved. I don’t need any help being my own biggest critic. I don’t need encouragement to trot out the “shoulds” and berate myself. So I find it very liberating to realize that God only expects me to be really, really good at one thing: the one thing he himself has given me. It takes a lot of the pressure off. Pouring all my energy into my “one thing” is exciting and fun. As opposed to spreading myself thinner and thinner trying to be good at everything. (It’s almost as freeing as when I realized that not everyone is going to like me, and that’s okay. It was quite the revelation. It freed me from trying to make everyone like me, which can be exhausting. Now I just accept that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea; in fact, some wonderful people can’t stand me at all. And that’s fine. We can respect each other without being besties.)

Have you ever taken one of those “gift” assessment tests that indicate your level of spiritual gifting? Do you have a sense of how God may have especially gifted you to participate in the body of Christ? What are you doing about that?

(And no, unfortunately, sarcasm is not a spiritual gift. Nor crafting. Bummer.)