Spiritual Gifts
Dear diary,
In the spirit of Christmas, we’re going to talk about gifts. Whenever I give gifts to people, I fully intend for them to use them well. I put a lot of thought and effort into selecting the gift because I know the person I'm gifting and the impact that that gift will have on their life. So, you can imagine how I’d feel if someone never took the time to open the gift that I’ve given them. This paints a picture of what it’s like when we don’t use the gifts that God has given us. According to Jeremiah 1:5, God knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb. He gave us gifts that we would use later in life. Let’s take a look at spiritual gifts to better understand how we can use them!
Where Do Gifts Come From?
And no. It's not Santa. Let’s start off by understanding that the Holy Spirit is the one who chooses what gifts to give people. Some people have the gift of prophecy, while others have the gift of teaching. When trying to figure out your gifts, you may end up asking yourself these questions: What are you good at that naturally doesn’t come easy for others? How can you use that gift to uplift the kingdom of God here on earth? Just ask the gift-giver! If you don’t know what your gift is, ask the Holy Spirit what it is. If you don’t know how to use the gift, ask the gift-giver. Just like giving gifts in real life, the gift giver probably knows more about how the gift can be used in your life than you do. Don’t be afraid to pray, seek, and ask.
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them."
1 Corinthians 12:4
Your Gift Is Handpicked Just For You
It’s important to note that not everyone gets the same spiritual gifts. Similarly, not everyone gets the same gift on Christmas. It can be easy to fall into the dangerous trap of jealousy when looking at somebody else’s gift. But if we view it from the standpoint of "my neighbor's gift can help me when I need it", then there’s absolutely no need to be jealous. In the body of Christ, we all work together. Everyone has a role to play, and we can’t move forward if we are focused on a role that is not ours. Should we then not grow and ask for more gifts to help one another? Of course not; just make sure to keep our motives in check. Remember, our gift is meant to serve others (but we'll get to that in a second).
Just because you can’t prophesy doesn’t mean you are not a part of the body. Because the body needs all its parts in order to function. If our arms tried to be the legs, we'd all be walking around disfuctionally and not to the best of our ability. It is the same with our spiritual gifts. We want to ensure that the body of Christ is functioning as effectively as possible.
"All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27
Share Your Gift
A lot of times, when we receive gifts, our initial thoughts are that they are strictly for us. Our fleshly nature wants to hog it all for ourselves. However, that’s not quite the same when it comes to spiritual gifts. With spiritual gifts, we are meant to use them to help others. These gifts are meant to be tools used to serve one another. A perfect example of this was Jesus, the son of God, who gave us salvation, the best gift of all. He sacrificed himself for us. God was thinking of the whole word for thousands of generations when he graciously gave us the gift of salvation, Jesus Christ. Likewise, our gifts should be used to serve others. We have to mimic the footsteps of our heavenly father and make sure to share the fruit of our gifts with others.
"A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other"
1 Corinthians 12:7
We all are blessed to receive spiritual gifts from God. Maybe it's singing, or maybe it's being a great mother. Whatever your spiritual gift is, steward, use, and share it well because the impact can be greater than anything we could ever imagine.
Lord, thank you for my spiritual gift. I pray and ask for a heart to share and help others with the gift that you have given me. May I steward over it well. Thank you for giving the best gift of all: your son, Jesus. I give you all the glory and honor. Amen.
- xoxo God's Girl