So Tara started this great discussion on her blog concerning spiritual gifts and it has been running through my mind for days now. Please take a look at her original post and all the very thoughtful discussion that followed it. http://tara-bleperson.blogspot.com/
My questions have to do with the actual identification and application of spiritual gifts today.
Various books and gift inventories come up with a different count of spiritual gifts. Some branch out into areas like finance and administration, some stick with basics like healing, teaching, prophesy, etc. Interesting side note, some sources call it prophesy, some call it wisdom... go figure.
So anyway, what ARE spiritual gifts? Even an unsaved person can be referred to as a "gifted teacher" or similar. Now, I realize that all humans are created in the image of God and as such can portray aspects of their creator, such as love, sacrifice, mercy, etc, even if they are not indwelt of the Holy Spirit. This is where I'm going with this... I KNOW that I'm a teacher, I have to teach, it's part of me... however, is that a "spiritual gift"?... I would be a teacher even if I weren't a Christian. Some people are naturally good speakers anyway, or passionate about what they believe in (I've seen plenty of evangelists that weren't evangelizing about God!), or naturally hospitable, or merciful.
Are these things that are our natural bent ALSO our "gifts"? It almost seems like the idea of a spiritual gift would be more like a special empowering in a specific area (which I may not be naturally good at) in order to do a specific job, it may be for a limited time or it may be ongoing. We seem to apply this reasoning especially to the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, that it is God's specific empowerment, only for very specific times, such as the preaching to the mixed crowd in Acts. I agree with this by the way... just wondering why this stipulation is not often applied to the other gifts.
Another thing... Julie mentioned in one of the comments on Tara's blog about how their church has had to restructure some things after training on spiritual gifts and making sure that people are working the the area where they fit best. I agree with this... I have gone through much angst myself because of church nursery scheduling... the attitude is, if you are a parent of that age group, you need to take a turn working the nursery. One problem. I don't do little kids. Of course I do my OWN kids, and even very limited numbers of friend's kids... but to take a two month rotation watching a room full of three year olds? This is not ministry, it is torture. I don't enjoy it and I'm not good at it. I will take a turn cleaning the bathroom to free up someone else to watch the nursery. But I digress, my point is, I agree with putting people where they are useful and "gifted", not simply where you need a warm body to fill a spot. However, we also often hear so much about "moving out of your comfort zone", "working where there is a need", "allowing God to stretch you" and so on... So which is it? do we work in the areas we are good at (gifted in) or do we move out of our comfort zone?
As you can see, I have lots of questions and no answers, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
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2 comments:
Great questions, Jody. I don't think I've ever thought about it that way - so this is stretching my mind somewhat. I feel like I've been 'forced' out of my comfort zone several times - some things have been very good for me and others, well, let's just say I should have NEVER had to do that! Being a pk and now a pastor's wife, I have had all kinds of things to do that was not my gift. And looking back, I believe it was because there were others not willing to use theirs. Therefore, I got stuck with the job. I was taught to always be willing, but if I hadn't have been so willing, would someone else have been? I have weird thoughts flying around my head now and can't seem to come to a conclusion. I do think that a lot of things are just us - for instance, you're a teacher. I don't know if that would be considered a gift or not! I think I need to explore this more. Thanks for getting my brain going.
Jody;
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I think you are older, but just by a few days, and whose counting anyway? :)
I'm with you on the Spiritual Gifts thing. More questions than answers here. It seems to me that Jesus didn't make a big deal of all of this. And Paul was trying to sort out a pretty messed up church and was therefore, "putting them all in their places" so to speak. With that said, I'm not sure I'm gonna strain my brain too hard on this one. If I'm needed I'll be available, in spite of how "good" I am at whatever. I also feel "obligated" to offer to God the few things I am "good" at for His glory. I suppose that's safe anyway. However, I'm always ready to learn, so if you get any insight on all this I'd love to hear it.
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