I don't know how much I agree with the whole "where do your giftings lie" that ministries continually pound into us as christians. I think that people do have giftings, but at the same time I think that they settle for so much less than they are able to do. For example: I'm a good listener, so I should probably lead a small group that will meet once a week or maybe every other week. I think that this listener could find so much more to do than just a small group, what about leading non believers to know Christ without the small group? What if the listener was also good at speaking in public? We will never know, because they are only leading a small group.
I'm not a "gifts died in acts" kind of guy. I actually believe that they are alive and serving the church today, but I also believe that people tend to sell themselves short with gifts and serving. I think that people get pigeon holed and then believe that this is the only way that they can serve.
does any of this make sense?
ron
ps: I believe that my gift is getting people to go against the grain and try to question who they are and what they believe.
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3 comments:
The whole emphasis on "spiritual gifts" raises my hackles. During one week a couple of years ago, I took three spiritual-gifts "tests" (an amusing notion in itself) and came up with three very different results. They were more like Meyers-Briggs personality profiles than anything, with each giving its own interpretation of just how gifted I was by God.
My first problem is that people readily confuse spiritual gifts with personal preferences, natural talents, and hobbies. The gifts listed in passages such as Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 are specific abilities breathed into us and enabled by the Holy Spirit upon conversion -- thus, spiritual. They would be things we would not have apart from God, things like prophecy, healing, wisdom, and (yes) speaking in unlearned languages.
My big issue is with people who attribute any positive attribute someone may have as a spiritual gift. For instance, if someone tells me that my drumming ability is a spiritual gift, I disagree; it is a natural talent that I have cultivated over time. Yes, it is a talent given by God (and that is where I believe most of the confusion on this topic lies, because everything we have or can do is granted by our Creator) but it is not a spiritual gift. If drumming, or any other musical talent for that matter, was a gift given by the Spirit of God, then please explain to me all the God-hating pagans who play drums or another instrument far better than me.
This is just one example of misinterpreted gifts. Then there are the gifts people don't have but would like to, like leadership. Since it is the current church fad, leadership is something that an abundance of Christians like to identify in their lives -- whether they truly have the gift or not. Being a good manager is much different than being a good leader. I'll let you figure that one out.
Lastly, I agree with Ron that the attempts to identify our individual gifts can quickly limit us. If we don't "have the gift" of hospitality, does that mean we should never bother entertaining others in our homes? Of course not! What about if we don't "have the gift" of mercy; are we then excused from showing it? Pshaw! Those beneficial things that don't come easily are things that we should try all the more to exercise, thus becoming more like spiritual disciplines than gifts.
So ends my rant. Thank the Lord for his many blessings, be they gifts of the Spirit, talents, or interests.
Crap, Paul said everything I wanted to say, but better! I have nothing new to add except an amen and this: we continue to deny the power of the Spirit, so we have no choice but to change the idea of gifts of the Spirit to gifts that are somehow "spiritual" because we use them in church. What a nauseating joke.
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