Wednesday, April 04, 2018

The Gifts That Are OK To Re-gift

Read: Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 4:10, Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; and 1 Corinthians 12:28. 

God created you specifically for the good works that He's prepared for you. He's uniquely given you the spiritual gifts you need, as well as the ability and capacity to grow in skills, talents and abilities to fulfill exactly what He's called and created you to do!

He's blessed you with these things so you can in turn serve Him with all that is within you and give those gifts back in service to Him. 

Now, there's an important distinction between Spiritual Gifts and talents, skills, and abilities as follows. 

Spiritual Gifts are different in that they are uniquely and spiritually bestowed on us from God for a specific purpose. 

Regarding talents, skills, and abilities, these things can largely be developed over time like learning a music instrument, learning a new language, excelling at athletics, or some learn a new programming language or tool, or being someone who develops and has fantastic artistic skills. 

These things and more are wonderful, but, the point is that your natural abilities, or developed skills and talents are different than the Spiritual Gifts God bestows upon you. 

On a side note, one could definitely argue that God gives us the capacity to learn and grow in talents, skill, and abilities, but again, these things are different than Spiritual Gifts and how we receive them. 

There is one thing, however, that is similar between Spiritual Gifts and skills, talents, and abilities and that is that God can and will use them all for His Kingdom and glory!

Where Can I Find The Biblical List of Spiritual Gifts?

Here are the three main passages that list spiritual gifts: Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; and 1 Corinthians 12:28. 


How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts - Part 1:

The best way to discover the spiritual gifts He's given you is through prayer, His Word, but most of all, in serving The Lord and others. 

It's in the "doing" as His workmanship that He will help you learn, grow in and discover who you are in Christ including your spiritual gifts. It's The Lord that gives and confirms your giftedness and He will also use others in The Body of Christ to confirm your gifts over time. 

How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts - Part 2 -Spiritual Gift Assessments: 

There are many free spiritual gift assessments out there that you can take. Please bear in mind that these aren't an exact science.  These can be used to give you a general idea of what some of your gifts may be, but, but can be used as a tool to help you explore what potentially are your top 2-3 spiritual gifts. Again, it's in the "doing" that God will help you discover the Spiritual Gifts He's equipped you with!

Here's an example of one of the free Spiritual Gift Assessments that are available and that you might take: http://elmertowns.com/?page_id=203

While this example doesn't capture all of the listed gifts within God's Word, it's still a great tool to assess what your gifts may be as the assessment focuses on many of the main active spiritual gifts.

In a very practical sense, some gifts you'll discover you have and they will be with you your entire life while others, they may be temporary and given to you just for that moment. All of which are very specific according to the gifts God lists for us in His Word.

The Gifts That Are OK To Re-gift:

In the case of the spiritual gifts...these are gifts that are OK to immediately "re-gift" guilt-free. 

What I mean is that these gifts aren't like the gifts you may receive maybe during Christmas time or a birthday. The gifts which you may not like as much and you immediately start formalizing in your mind, "Do I try to return it to the store?" Or, "Do I re-gift it?", "Do I save it for a white elephant Gift exchange? LOL. ;-) Ok, this may be sort of sad, because someone gave you the gift, but, I'm sure you get the point and know the gift or gifts you've received that fall into this category, right?! ;-) 
In other words, there's no guilt here in re-gifting what God has freely given you. 

No, the good gifts that God has given you are meant for the explicit purpose of re-gifting to serve and bless Him and others with and to, again, equip you to do what He created you to do! 

It's Your Choice:

So, the choice is up to you...will you seek to discover and use the spiritual gifts He's given you or the skills, talents, and abilities He's allowed you to develop for His kingdom and Glory? Or, will you try to hide them and never use or acknowledge what He's given you?

Don't hide your gifts my friend...use them and live them out mightily in the strength of the Lord and the power of His might!

Your spiritual gifts, skills, talents, and abilities are gifts from God. What you do with them in turn are your gift to God!

I pray that you use them and in turn you and others will be blessed as you bring God glory in the process as they truly are gifts that are OK to Re-gift! 

In Christ Alone,

Randolph Koch

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2 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your gift! As I was reading the verses you posted regarding our spiritual gifts...the Holy Spirit caused me to take note of what is in the chapters (both of which are Chapter 13) which follow. Love.....

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    1. Hi Pam! Thank you for your comment and encouragement! Thank you for your insight as well! Amen!

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