Endowed by a Creative Giver
The Bible indicates that we are given more than just one of the available spiritual gifts.
This makes perfect sense when so many other scriptures command all believers to do things like:-
-preach and teach;
-encourage and minister;
-give and serve.
God also determines the measure and extent of our giftedness and the results that follow. It is likely that God gifts all believers with every one of the available spiritual gifts but in a unique way.
In other words, God often blends our gifts in such a way as to fit our personality, intelligence and natural abilities. At other times God also gifts us to do things that we could never have done before our salvation, eg the courage to preach or share the Gospel, or to serve sacrificially.
God determines our gifting according to his own good will and purpose. We don’t get to choose the blending of our gifts, He does.
I had no choice in the way God has called and equipped me. This truth allows me to accept His gracious dealings and actually frees me to serve Him. My service to the Lord is not a competition with others or ‘one further step’ in a career move so I can get a ‘better’ ministry one day.
We can rest confident in the knowledge that God made no mistakes when He created us at birth, and then when He gifted us at the new birth.
As John Macarthur wrote: ‘The NT does not promise that our gift will come neatly packaged and labelled… the NT makes clear that God endows His children with many combinations and degrees of giftedness…. an artist mixes colours on his palette to create the exact shade he desires for a particular part of the painting.’
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them… Rom 12:6
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 one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.1 Cor 12:4-6,11
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 1 Cor 12:18
When you comment, please keep these guidelines in mind. You can find an explanation of our commenting guidelines here.
Stay connected by subscribing to our RSS or email feed! Or print this post.
No comments yet.
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>