Every Christian has at least one gift. Most have more than one. And every gift God gave you came with a purpose attached to it. The gift we all have received was God’s choice, not ours.
James 1:17, ”Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
Nothing about your gifting is accidental, and the more you understand the purpose of your gift, the closer you get to discovering God’s will for your life.
God Gives Gifts to Everyone
Every Christian has a gift. No exceptions.
1 Corinthians 12:7, ”But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”
1 Peter 4:10, ”As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
The problem is that many Christians do not even know what their gift is. Paul addressed this directly.
1 Corinthians 12:1, ”Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.”
A Christian who does not know his gift cannot use it. A Christian who knows his gift but neglects it is just as ineffective.
Gifts Are Given to Profit Others
Your gift was not given primarily for you.
1 Corinthians 12:7, ”But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”
The word profit in this verse means the profit of the church body. The gift was given to bless others. Paul makes the same point over and over in 1 Corinthians 12.
1 Corinthians 12:12, ”For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:18, ”But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”
God set every member in the body on purpose. Your gift is what connects you to the rest of the church. Without your gift, the body is missing something. Without the body, your gift has nowhere to function.
Your Gift Is Not Someone Else’s Gift
Romans 12:6, ”Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;”
1 Corinthians 12:4-6, ”Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is God which worketh all in all.”
Stop trying to be someone else. The Christian who envies another Christian’s gift is wasting energy he could be using on the gift God already gave him. Your assignment was not to imitate! Your assignment was to steward what is in your hand.
Could you imagine if I tried to pretend God gave me the gift of music? We would all suffer because of it.
Gifts Must Be Stewarded, Not Just Possessed
A gift God gives you is not yours to bury. It is yours to use.
1 Peter 4:10, ”As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 makes this painfully clear. Two servants used what they were given. One buried his and two were rewarded. The one was judged. A possessed but buried gift earns judgment. A possessed and stewarded gift earns reward!
The gift remains whether you use it or waste it. That makes stewardship even more serious.
The Gift Is for God’s Glory
1 Peter 4:11, ”If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
The gift came from God and the gift is for God. The glory belongs to God. Any Christian who uses his gift to build his own name has stolen what belongs to the Lord.
God’s General Will and God’s Specific Will
Most Christians get stuck on God’s will because they want the specific without doing the general.
God’s general will is plain. Pray, go to church, win souls, tithe, read your Bible, and live separated from the world. Scripture calls these things the will of God repeatedly.
These are the commands every Christian already knows he should be doing. That is the general will
But here is the key. Walking in God’s general will with your specific gifts, positions you to discover God’s specific will for your life. As you obey what He already commanded with gifts He already has given you, He reveals what He specifically called you to.
Gifts Point to Calling
Many Bible characters whose calling we know used their gift as the doorway to it.
Joseph’s gift was dream interpretation and administration. It opened the door to Pharaoh’s palace, and the calling was preserving Israel through famine.
David’s gift was music. It opened the door to Saul’s palace, and the calling was the throne of Israel.
Bezaleel’s gift was craftsmanship. It opened the door to building the tabernacle.
Daniel’s gift was wisdom and dream interpretation. It opened the door to standing before Nebuchadnezzar, and the calling was prophet to the Gentile kings.
Esther’s gift was beauty and grace. It opened the door to the palace of Ahasuerus, and the calling was deliverer of the Jewish people.
Nehemiah’s gift was trustworthy service and burden-bearing. It opened the door to the king’s presence, and the calling was to rebuild Jerusalem.
Moses had Egyptian education and leadership training. Paul had scholarship, citizenship, and a trade. Matthew had record-keeping skills, and God used them to write a gospel.
Hannah’s gift was a willing heart to give her son back to God. Phebe’s gift was servanthood, and Paul trusted her enough to commend her to the Roman church. Priscilla’s gift was teaching and hospitality, and God used her & her husband to disciple Apollos.
In every case, the gift was the doorway. The calling was the room God led them into through it.
What This Means for You
You have a gift and God put it in you on purpose. He gave it to you so you would profit the church, glorify Him, and discover the specific calling He has for your life.
Find your gift and use your gift in God’s general will.
Your gift is not just for you. Your gift is the pointer God left in your hand to show you where He wants you to serve Him.
