In 1 Corinthians, Ephesians and Romans Paul gives a long list of spiritual gifts. They include: being an apostle, prophet, preacher or evangelist; Teaching; having knowledge or wisdom; being a healer; showing mercy; helping; serving; being an administration; being encouraging; having faith; giving; speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues; having miraculous powers; leadership; and being able to distinguish between spirits. In 1 Peter 4:10 we learn that we all have received a spiritual gifts and we are instructed to use them to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace. But how do we determine our spiritual gifts? It can be hard.

Our search for them is complicated by the fact that they can greatly differ from our natural talents. For example, if I possess a talent, it is for mathematics (the kinds using letters – I am terrible at arithmetic). I tried using this talent by volunteering to tutor math at the College of Central Florida, but even though I invested a lot of time and effort, I never really felt that it was what I supposed to do.

If you go online, you’ll find that there are many spiritual gifts tests, which you think should be helpful, but I hesitate to recommend them, because each seem biased towards a particular religious view. Also, all that I’ve found require some sort of registration, which makes me believe that their goals are to recruit more followers for their organizations.

The question remains: How do we find our spiritual gifts? I don’t know THE answer, but I do have some suggestions. (1) Be willing to be a steward of God’s grace and have faith that there will be many such opportunities. (2) You will find it is easier to perceive the gifts of others than your own. The same is true of other Christians; hence your church community can help you find your own gifts. (3) Probably the most likely way to become aware of a gift, is observing a need at your church or in your community and then trying to alleviate it. At my previous church I learned that two of my gifts were washing dishes and lawn mowing. (4) Be heartened by the fact that the gifts you are called to share are not the same as your talents and have faith that you will be equipped to exercise your gift (but don’t ask me to perform brain surgery). The wonderful spiritual “There Is a Balm in Gilead” says that even though you can’t preach like Peter or pray like Paul, you can still spread the love of Jesus.

Currently here at Joy Lutheran Church we have many areas in which people are needed to help; please consider volunteering for them. As noted in 1 Peter 4:10 such stewardship is closely related to spiritual gifts and can guide us in identifying them. Paul writes beautifully about this in Romans 12:3-8. Please read what Paul says, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim