GIFT!

Today, folks, is Ascension Sunday. Actually, the Ascension is forty days after Easter and always falls on a Thursday (last Thursday), but is usually celebrated the Sunday thereafter (today). And, while we are on the topic of the Church Calendar, I might as well make mention that next Sunday is Pentecost, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Christ, thus marking the birth of the Church.

And that’s what started me thinking of gifts. Not just Pentecost and Holy Spirit, but Ascension as well, for Ephesians 4:7–11 links that event also with gifting—the spiritual kind.

When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives
And He gave gifts to men.
Ephesians 4:8

Mentioned several times in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 12ff.; Romans 12; Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4—two 12’s and two 4’s), the gifts of the Holy Spirit are described as being granted to all believers, a consequence of their indwelling by the third Person of the Trinity from the moment they place their trust in Jesus Christ as their only God and Savior from sin.

… to each one is given
the manifestation of
the Spirit
for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:7

How does one recognize one’s spiritual gifts? In another context, I was just discussing this the other day with the Gibsons (a fellow-student and his wife). How does one figure out what one’s gifts might be?

This is, admittedly, not an easy question to answer. Beyond encouraging those seeking to discover their gifts to study, prayerfully, the Biblical passages that deal with this subject, allow me to share what has helped me in my own search. Not just for inquiring about gifts, but even for assisting me in making decisions in life, these three areas of investigation have been exceptionally profitable: Head, Heart, and Hands.

Head: Who am I? What is my personality like? My talents? Qualifications? Experience? What am I capable of? Where am I in my spiritual pilgrimage now? And my station in life? How has God sovereignly led me thus far?
Heart: What am I passionate about? What gives me great joy to engage in (or great grief, for that matter!)?
Hands: What am I good at? What exploratory activities in the direction of the gifts have borne the most fruit? What, according to my fellow-Christians, has been effective in my “experimental” ventures with gifts?

Of course, none of these criteria are absolute determinants of what our gift(s) might be; I offer them in the hope that they might lend as much help to you as they have to me in making a reasonable assessment of the trajectory of my gifting.

On that last point (Hands) let me add one thing—the use of these spiritual gifts: 1 Corinthians 12:7 explicitly demarcated their employment for “the common good”, for the edification of the church, for the building up on one another.

As each one
has received a gift,
employ it
in serving one another,
as good stewards
of the manifold grace
of God.
1 Peter 4:10

Spiritual gifts are expressly for the benefit of the church. Employ them. Enjoy them. Edify others, your brothers and sisters in Christ.

By the way, I’m exercising (what I think might be) my gift this morning in my church—I’m preaching. So if you read this before noon today GMT, please whisper a prayer for me. If you don’t peruse this by then, do pray nonetheless—it will stand me in good stead when I’m in the pulpit again next Sunday, at another church. Thanks!