After several decades as a Christian, I still find it interesting how few people know what their spiritual gift is. We see a number of spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament (Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 4-11, 28; Romans 12:6-8) and displayed in both the Old and New Testament. God has given us spiritual gifts for a purpose, for the work of the ministry to grow the church:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (Eph. 4:11-12)
This passage contains one of the shorter lists of spiritual gifts in Scripture, but it tells us a lot about gifts in general. God has gifted each of us with particular gifts to do the work of the ministry.
The issue at hand is that so many Christians have no clue what their primary spiritual gift is. I say “primary” because we all have a primary gift but often can be given a gift temporarily to suit a particular moment or time period. A couple of years ago, I was talking with a Jehovah’s Witness, and he asked me a question that came to me from out of left field. Now I’ve been talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses for nearly 50 years. There isn’t much I haven’t heard, but this one caught me flat-footed. While I was still reeling from the blow, God just told me the response. I stated the response to John, the JW, exactly word-for-word as God had told me. Then it was John’s turn to reel. That was a brief gift of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8).
Another time I was talking to a realtor whose wife got the calling to smuggle Bibles into China even though neither he nor his wife spoke Chinese. The calling was so strong that they bought several hundred Bibles in Chinese, shipped them to Hong Kong, flew there, and drove them to the border with Communist China. The realtor’s wife spoke with the guard in Chinese; he identified himself as a Christian, and expressed how grateful he was for the Bibles. She and her husband returned to the states, but she never again was able to speak Chinese. God had given her a temporary gift of tongues.
More important than this is recognizing our primary gifts, the gifts we use every day. How do we recognize those in ourselves? I think the best way is to ask others what they think your gift is.
Early in my Christian life, I was sitting in an adult Sunday School class with a number of other people when the pastor joined us. We were going through the book “Body Life” and were discussing this exact topic. When there was a pause, the pastor stepped in and said “Sometimes we can tell what gift a particular person has by their habits. For instance,” he said “I’ll bet when Mike and John study their Bibles, they have books and magazines all over the table. They read commentaries, use Bible dictionaries, and ask questions of others. They have the gift of teaching.” I was stunned. It was like he was reading my mail. How did he know? He knew because in the pre-computer age, this was how teachers had to study. Now we use computers and Bible study programs.
I have friends who have the gift of giving, evangelism, teaching, helps, administration, and so on. Most of those people know their gift. It is a drive to do what they have been gifted to do.
God’s gift is often so great a desire it becomes obviously a gift from Him.
Why is this important?
If you don’t know your spiritual gift, ask a mature Christian who knows you well. Look at the things that drive you. Do you want to help, does disorganization bother you? Do you get upset when someone teaches something you know is in error?
There are lots of “spiritual gift tests” online. Take a few of those and see if there is a commonality in the results.
Without all of us knowing and exercising our spiritual gifts, we are not fulfilling God’s desire to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. So, do some research. Find your function in the body of Christ.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 