Gifted

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.  To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.  The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.  He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.  It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.  1 Corinthians 12:7-11

There is this little girl I know.  She has challenges that other children do not have.  I cannot imagine the various struggles her parents must endure whether it be doctor visits or emotional issues.  But here is the thing.  They know they are blessed to have her.  They know she is not only a gift to them but also, she is gifted.  How do I know?  Whenever I see her, all I see is her smile, and it brings a lasting joy that cannot be explained.  The other stuff does not matter.  It reminds me that we all have a gift from God no matter how small it may be or significant we are blessed with it.  The important thing is what we do with it.

To be gifted is simply not enough.  It is equally important to know what those gifts are and use them as God intended.  For several years, I thought I was good at numbers.  So much so that I went to college studying Accounting and then Finance.  But good is not the same as great.  For the longest time, I would not be able to understand why I did not feel ‘great’ when doing my various accounting activities.  I spent years trying to understand what was missing.  Then, the ‘a ha’ moment came from a simple interview.  “You didn’t get the (Accounting) job, but we would really like you to interview for the Customer Service Manager job.”  They thought I was good as a numbers guy, but they fell in love with how I related to people.  That’s how I ended up at my current job, and nothing has felt better than that.  By the way, this job was the catalyst to my becoming born again.  Talk about God’s plan, huh?

Our spiritual gifts are given by God, and our goal as Christians is to both know them and utilize them.  Paul listed numerous gifts above (healing, prophesy, discernment, interpretation), and he is clear that all of these are gifts from God.  Note that it says nothing about knowing them, but here is a thought on this.  The Great Commission says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) If we are given this mission or command, how would we best do this?  There is zero chance that I could replace Ms. Wilson who played the pipe organ at my old church and play “Oh!  What a friend we have in Jesus,” with any level of precision.  Music was her gift.  I was not envious or as the younger generation would say, “I ain’t mad at ya.”  I appreciated her abilities.

Another great example of God knowing our gifts is the story of Moses.  Moses left Egypt, and yet, God used Him to free the Israelites.  To those who see Moses as Charlton Heston’s portrayal, that was not how Moses sounded like.  Moses said, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” (Exodus 4:10b)  But Moses was both obedient and had a heart for his people (his killing the Egyptian who beat “his fellow Hebrews”).  Those are the ‘gifts’ God required to lead His people out of Egypt and ultimately chose him.  I could write an lengthy essay on their interaction, but the point is like Moses, God gave us gifts for His will to be done.  So, we may question the mission God has given us.  The important thing is we trust God has equipped us with the gifts necessary to accomplish what He needs done.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  In the Psalms of David, he said:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.  Psalm 139:13-14

Our journey of faith often entails figuring out those things that God already knows.  Where trust comes into play is when we are called on to do something for His kingdom.  Rather that focusing on what we cannot do or our own perceived limitations (The Moses ‘Who am I?’ argument), trust that God has given us gifts that will allow us to do things we might not have imagined (God’s response of ‘I Am.’).  Let us make time to know the gifts God has given us, and then deliberately take time to utilize them as God’s will would ask of us.  Do you know what gifts God has given you?  If so, how have you utilized them, and if not, who can you go to for insights as to what they may be?  My prayer is that we know all gifts are from God, and that we ourselves are ‘gifted.’  Amen.