It’s Time to Discover Your Gift

You are so unique and valuable to God that He has given you a special gift with which to bless the entire body of Christ.

Most of us have had to say goodbye to someone we love. Perhaps it happened at an airport when that person was moving to another part of the country or across the world and you watched and waved until the plane was out of sight. Maybe it was the goodbye you gave your child as you dropped them off at college for the first time and drove away, your eyes watching the rearview mirror for a final glance. Many of us have said goodbye at the deathbed of our mom or dad or other loved ones. 

Saying goodbye to someone close to us is one of the more difficult experiences of life.

The disciples had such an experience. They had been with Jesus for over three years in the Galilean mountains and walking the dusty trails of Judea. They had slept with Him every night and eaten a thousand meals together.

Then came the time to say goodbye. He led them up the Mount of Olives as far as the little village of Bethany, then Scripture records,

It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into Heaven. — Luke 24:51

You would think they must have been devastated and in despair. But no. The very next verse says, 

And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. — Luke 24:52

What? He was gone! And yet, they went back to the very city where He had been so cruelly crucified and did so “with great joy.” Why did they respond in such a manner? Paul gave us the answer:

When He ascended on high, He... gave gifts to men. — Ephesians 4:8, emphasis added 

He left them with special spiritual gifts that empowered them to carry on His work. Discovering these gifts brought “great joy” to each of them. When you discover your own gift, it will result in the same great joy.

These gifts are not natural abilities. There is a huge divide between a natural ability and a supernatural, sovereignly bestowed spiritual gift. An opera singer with natural and impeccable musical and vocal abilities might sing in a church service and not lead the people into a true worship experience nearly as much as someone who does not have the precise natural abilities of an operatic superstar but who does have a spiritual gift that God uses to build up His body.

Yes, God has given every believer a spiritual gift. No one is left out.

Every single believer has one. It may not yet be recognized or exercised, but this special gift anointing is there inside each of us, waiting to be discovered. The Bible makes this plain, saying that

there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. — 1 Corinthians 12:4–7

These manifested gifts are given to each of us. You are so unique and valuable to God that He has given you a special gift with which to bless the entire body of Christ.

Importantly, while each of us has at least one gift, no one person has all the gifts. Paul made this clear, too, as he closed the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians: 

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? — 1 Corinthians 12:29–30

The answer was obvious — No! No one has all the gifts. But Paul finished the thought by saying we should

earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. — 1 Corinthians 12:31

And with that word he launched into the thirteenth chapter of his epistle, revealing that love is the “more excellent way.” 

• Every spiritual gift should be operated within the environment of the love of Christ.

Paul made this point clear as well: 

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy... and though I have all faith... but have not love, I am nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:1–2 

The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters of this first letter to the Corinthian believers contain Paul’s dissertation on spiritual gifts. In chapter twelve Paul laid out the gifts. In chapter fourteen, he warned and pointed out how they are often perverted from their intended use. But in between, in chapter thirteen, he revealed that love is the measure, the standard — the

greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:13

This is like a Holy Spirit sandwich, and love is the filling. Love is the very oxygen in which the kingdom of God operates, and without love, we, like Paul, are nothing more than sounding brass or clanging cymbals.

As we have noted previously, all believers — you, me, every single one of us — are likened to a body. We are, in fact, the visible body of Christ to the world today. While we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit for our spiritual life, we are interdependent upon one another as well. Like members of our own physical body, we must work together in love and unity to accomplish His will. This is why each of us is especially gifted for a unique purpose to function in the body of Christ.

We must forget the idea that the church is an organization. It was never primarily intended to be such. You are part of a living organism: the church, the body of Christ. My own physical body depends on the health and strength of every part of it. If one part ceases to function like it is designed to do, my whole body is affected. If my liver ceased functioning, I would not say, “Oh, I have lots of other organs. I am not going to worry about this one.”

Every part of my body is interdependent on every other part. And so it is with the body of Christ. We can’t say of another believer, “We don’t need her. Forget her — we’re okay without her.” 

To this Paul said,

There should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. — 1 Corinthians 12:25–27

In the distribution and the functioning of the gifts, we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit. But in order to function as Christ intends, we are interdependent on each other. 

God has given these gifts to us. They are not earned nor deserved. They are supernaturally bestowed by a sovereign Lord. Every believer has a gift. No believer has all the gifts. They are to be used for God’s glory, for the uplifting and building up of the church, the body of Christ. And they are always to be exercised in an environment of love. They are designed

for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. — Ephesians 4:12

These gifts, listed primarily in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the Romans, and the Ephesians, are given with three distinct characteristics. There are motivational gifts designed to encourage the church. There are miracle gifts that prove the authenticity of the faith. And there are ministry gifts that seek to meet the needs of the entire body of believers. Remember, you have at least one. As we journey through the list of gifts in these next few chapters, see if you can discern which one(s) have been given to you, so that it might be said of us what was said of those early believers, that we, too, were characterized by “great joy.”

Excerpted with permission from The Spirit Code by O. S. Hawkins, copyright Dr. O. S. Hawkins.

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Your Turn

What are your gifts? Do you know? If not, ask the Lord! Ask people who know you well what they see in you that edifies the body of Christ! We need you and your gifts! ~ Devotionals Daily