About two weeks ago two young men that had spent about five months with me headed back to the States. That did a great job while they were here. They worked hard and were passionate about wanting to see people come to faith in the One True God. They were also a lot of fun and will be missed. There are many more stories to tell about their time here, but one that happened on their second day will be the focus today. I did not know anything about these guys and neither did my supervisors, so we set down to meet with them and learn all we could about them. We wanted to learn strengths and weaknesses so that we could figure how best to put them to work. We asked them about things they had done in the past and how comfortable they were with meeting new people. Then my supervisor asked them about spiritual gifts.
Have you ever done a spiritual gifts inventory? If you have ever taken a personality test they are basically the same thing. You answer a multitude of questions and then from your answers the test discerns your spiritual gift/s. The test is designed to tell you if your gift is giving or evangelism, encouragement or discernment. The list goes on and on, but basically you are given your top three and these are your spiritual gifts. I understand the idea of the test but honestly I am just not a big fan. I believe they can help a person understand how the Lord is blessing them but I think more often they are more of a hindrance to the taker. For example, if the test tells me that evangelism is not my gift, should I work to improve it or like I have done in the past just chalk it up to not being my gift and leave evangelism to people that were given the gift. The answer of course is no, we are all tasked with telling all the people that we can about the unwavering pursuit of the Savior for their soul. The test also does not take into account the abilities of the taker. I have skills just like anyone else that are not listed among the spiritual gifts. This is something I believe these test miss out on. I realize this is not the point but still believe it to be a shortcoming. Thus instead of using all abilities for the greatness of His name we can separate them into different sections of out life. They should not be separated though. Should we not use all means necessary to make Him known. One of the guys either had this figured out or really has not clue what a spiritual gift is.
When we asked them about their gifts he immediately responded with “I can fix things.” When he first said this I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. He really did not answer the question. We did not ask about life skills. We asked about spiritual gifts. He went on to tell us that he enjoyed fixing things and was really good at it. I hope you realize that nowhere in scripture is “fixing things” listed as a spiritual gift, but does that mean we do not use it for Christ. He may have misunderstood the question just a bit, but he has grasped hold of something bigger. He understands that he enjoys fixing things and is good at it, and if that is the case he must use “fixing things” in service of the King.
What if this was the idea of the church? No longer will an electrician have to be hired because the one sitting in the fifth pew back uses he skill to fix the church. The guitarist uses his ability to play to lead others in worship and not just entertaining the patrons at the local pub. The artist uses their skill to help the teachers teach. The Doctor uses his knowledge to get into a county were Christians are not allowed. The quilt maker teaches the poor a skill that can be used to buy bread. The linguist spends time translating the Bible for those that have no access to the Bible in their own language. There is no skill that is rendered useless when talking about impacting the lost and dying world. We are engifted by the Holy Spirit and these gifts should be used in His service, but we should use everything that we have to this end. The Bible says that even if we are eating or drinking we should do it for his glory. If that is the case should not my ability to hit a baseball or solve a math problem be used to the same end. My young friend seems to understand this idea, should you not also? Let all that you do be done in worship of the King. Let every gift, skill and ability used to make Him known by all people.
