You are not on this planet by accident! God has a wonderful plan
for your life, and when you become a Christian He gives you three
gifts to accomplish that plan and bring you success.
You are not on this planet by accident! God has a wonderful plan for your life, and when you become a Christian He gives you three gifts to accomplish that plan and bring you success: eternal life (Romans 6:23), the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort you (Romans 5:5), and spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:8). A spiritual gift is a special ability, given by the Holy Spirit to every believer at his/her conversion, to be used to minister to others and therefore build up the Body of Christ.
Unfortunately, many Christians are not using their gifts because they do not know what they are. Yet discovering them is not terribly difficult; just ask yourself, “In the past, what have I done well and enjoyed doing? Where have I seen positive results when I served God?”
By comparing your answer to the numerous gifts mentioned in the Bible (the four major lists of gifts are found in Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11,27-31, Ephesians 4:11-12, and 1 Peter 4:9-11) you will get an idea of what your gifts are. If you are still not able to identify your gifts, contact a church in your neighborhood and let them help you discover your spiritual gifts.
Once you determine what your gifts are, you need to develop them. 1 Timothy 4:14 says “do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you.” The fact is, many of us already know what our spiritual gifts are, but we are not using them. There are many excuses, but remember this: Satan will do all that is within his power (and he has considerable resources!) to get you to neglect the gifts God has given you. The Devil wants you to keep busy so that you will miss out on the thrill of being used by God. 2 Timothy 1:6 exhorts you to, “Fan into flame the gift God gave you.” 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever spiritual gift he has received to serve others, faithfully managing God‚s grace in its various forms.”
When I look at how God set it all up, I am amazed by His wisdom. His plan was that every Christian would get spiritual gifts, that every Christian would be important, that no one would be insignificant. We are to function together like a symphony orchestra, each playing our part in the most important task in the world: building up the Kingdom of God. God’s plan is that some of us play music, some create artwork, some work with kids, some work with seniors, some minister to those who are ill, some are counselors or preachers or cleanup people or… you name it! And no one is more important than anyone else!
Jesus once told a story that has a simple message: one day all of us will stand before God and give account for what we have done with the gifts He gave us. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus told His disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven “will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them… After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.”
One day that scene will involve you and I. God, who has given every Christian spiritual gifts, will ask us what we have done with them. 1 Corinthians 4:2 tells us that “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Many people fear death, but Christians need not fear death because, by God’s grace, we will go to heaven. Instead, believers should be deeply concerned about the possibility that they will get there only to realize they lived a wasted life by not discovering, developing and using the gifts God gave them.
If you are a Christian, God has shaped you for significance. Make an important decision today: to discover, develop, and use the spiritual gifts God has given you.
