No batteries required | Another Think

The clock is ticking down, Christmas is less than two weeks away and I haven’t finished my shopping. Christmas gifts are on my mind.

But Mark Daniels has been thinking about gifts that don’t wear out or max out your credit or go out of style — spiritual gifts. Each day during Advent, Mark is posting some new thoughts on these most important of all gifts, given to each of us to serve Christ’s church. Here is how he began the series.

I read somewhere about a man who never opened his Christmas presents. Instead, each year, he placed his newest gifts under the tree with past years’ packages, all unopened.
It’s a stupid story. But it’s the story of most Christians. The Bible affirms that God gives all believers in Christ at least one spiritual gift. The apostle Paul puts it this way in First Corinthians:
“God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful…” (First Corinthians 12:4-7, The Message)
Like the man in that story though, most Christians never make the effort to open their spiritual gifts, often because they’re ignorant of them.

What are spiritual gifts, and how do we know if we have any? What if I get it wrong? What’s the point, anyway? We pay our ministers good money; can’t they handle all that spiritual stuff themselves? You can catch up on Mark Daniel’s excellent series by following these links:

On of my favorite verses in the New Testament is Ephesians 2:10, where Paul says that each of us has been created in a unique way by God, designed and equipped especially to do His work. We have purpose; life has meaning. Discovering and using our gifts is the first step in living out that purpose.