We tend to look at ourselves and evaluate what we are good at and what we like to do, then line this up with some way of serving. We figure out what our talents are and then offer them to God equating them to our spiritual gift. We want to serve God in areas that we perceive we are good at.
I am not saying not to do this. Obviously, God has made us unique with talents and skills to serve him. The question I am pondering is whether we should call these talents and skills spiritual gifts. If they are talents and skills, we might have a tendency (and I do) to act in our own abilities rather than relying on the Holy Spirit to empower us. We don't rely on the Holy Spirit because we are confident in our own abilities and think we have everything under control. The Blackabys state: "the world looks at the church and sees good people doing good things for God, but they don't see the power of God working through His people to accomplish what only He can do."
The Blackabys challenge the use of spiritual gifts inventory tests. These tests actually reveal what our talents and skills are. A non-believer could take the test today and then in five months become a Christian and take the test again. Would we see different gifts? Probably not.
Our self-worth is based on our relationship to Christ not our abilites. It is easy for us to do what were good at and comfortable with, rather than to walk with God and obey Him when He asks us do what we are unable to do in our own strength. This kind of obedience requires us to know His will, have faith to trust His will and humbly submit to His will.
"We are servants, and Chirst is our Master. The servant never tells the Master what he or she wants to do for Him. The servant simply obeys the Master. Could you imagine the Master giving an order to the servant and the servant replying, "Sorry, that isn't my gift"?" (Blackaby, Henry and Mel; What's so spiritual about your gifts? pg 30)We should seeking God's will then step out in obedient and rely on God's strength and power to accomplish what He desires. Thereby, the Holy Spirit will be relied upon for the gifts to accomplish God's will.
I realize God is showing me these truths for a purpose. As I have been seeking God lately, He is leading me in directions that I would not personally want to do. Pray for me that I would be obedient and adjust my plans to God's activity.
2 comments:
Thank you for this post Bill. I was in a Bible study on "spiritual gifts" my freshman year in college, and we took some "spiritual gifts test." Supposedly, the top three were your strongest gifts.
While I don't dispute that the top three were things in which I am stronger - and probably even have spiritual gifts in those things - it made it very easy for me to limit myself to those things.
I'm now re-thinking that train of thought.
I have seen firsthand how this teaching about spiritual gifts can leave people feeling frustrated and disappointed. Instead of following their interests that they felt passionate about they were told this would not be glorifying God and to follow some other suggested path that would allow God the glory. This eventually led the person further from God, feeling frustrated and angry at the people who were supposed to be in a position of discipleship. Another teaching that contributed to this person's falling out with the church was the idea that we should be getting personlized messages from God but I won't touch this issue here.
God has given us everything including our natural talents, our interests and abilities. To ignore these God-given traits and pursue other areas I think is unwise and not glorifying God. And if you really think about it, it's also a great way to get people in church to volunteer for programs that they don't feel necessarily passionate or qualified to do. But saying to the person that God would be glorified in your lack of ability... well you really could get people to volunteer for anything or any program on the basis that it would be God working through them. A great philosophy for getting people to volunteer to do church work. But is this really the way God works? Do you think David had no natural ability with his sling before he took out Goliath?
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