Sunday, February 4, 2001
|
Sunday, February 4, 2001 |
|
Your spiritual gifts By JUSTIN KOLLMEYER
Have you ever asked these questions: "What is the will of God in my life? What does God want me to do with my life? What is the purpose of my life? How does God want me to use my life?" These are great questions and deserve some special attention and contemplation concerning the subject of our "spiritual gifts". Here are some questions that our eighth grade confirmation class answered and discussed about spiritual gifts last week. 1. What are spiritual gifts? They are any God-given talents or personal qualities that are used for building up the church in faith and love, and for serving and caring for the world. 2. Which Christians have spiritual gifts? All Christians (This is important to understand!) 3. What are some examples of spiritual gifts? Serving, teaching, encouraging, sharing, leading, organizing, building, repairing, being kind, preaching, witnessing, singing, using computer technology, listening, helping others, cooking, maintaining equipment, outgoing personality/making others feel welcomed, capable of contemplation, financial skills/money management, working with children, working with youth, working with older adults, working with handicapped people, praying for and with others, helping people who are in crisis, giving and stewardship, just to name a FEW! 4. What is the greatest spiritual gift? Love. I Corinthians 13:13 says, "So faith, hope, love abide; these three. But the greatest of these is love." 5. What are two ways that spiritual gifts are to be used? a: To build up the church in love; b: To serve and care for the world. 6. I Corinthians 12:7 and 11 says, "The Holy Spirit gives different gifts to each person, as the Spirit wishes, for the good of all." What are five spiritual gifts that God has given YOU? List 5: 1. ____________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________ 4. ____________________________________________ 5. ____________________________________________ Now, what do we do? F First, we need to NAME our gifts, discover our gifts, and identify the gifts that God has given to us. F Second, we need to CLAIM our gifts, accept our gifts, take hold and embrace the unique gifts that God has given to us! Rather than being irritated at God that He didn't give us the set of gifts that we want, God wants us to embrace, enjoy and USE the gifts that He has given to us. F Third, we need to surrender these gifts to God and let Him REIGN over our gifts. "These belong to you, Lord. Use them. Take them. These gifts are Yours, Lord. Do with them what YOU want. Accomplish what you want, Lord, with the gifts you have given me!" This whole process is part of maturing, growing up, and finding ourselves as "disciples" of Jesus Christ - at whatever age we are! One of the most wonderful parts of living is the gradual unfolding and discovering of our own God-given spiritual gifts, then using them to "build up the church in love and serve and care for the world." This is how we go about finding God's will for our lives. To our question, "What is the will of God for my life?", the answer is like one of those mind riddles, which seems so complicated at first, but when we finally discover the solution, we say, "Oh, the answer is so obvious! Why didn't I see it sooner?" When we discover our spiritual gifts, we discover God's will for our lives! Kollmeyer is senior pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville. He may be reached at 770-461-3403 or pjk@popdove.com.
|
||