Joy, Grace, and Spiritual Gifts

Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.
—1 Corinthians 7:7

All of us have a desire to be a part of something truly meaningful in life. We want to do something that has true meaning and purpose. And what could have more lasting value than to spend your life connecting with God’s eternal purpose?

True joy and fulfillment in life comes from using your spiritual gift. We’ve seen this over and over again. What is the one thing God is trying to do in the world today? What is His purpose? It is to save people from hell through Jesus Christ and transform them into disciples of Christ. That’s what the Great Commission is. That is God’s purpose.

Now, why did God leave you and me here on earth rather than to rapture us to heaven the moment we were saved? God has left us here to join Him in this kingdom enterprise of reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that people can be transformed into obedient and reproducing disciples of Christ. And the organization that God created to fulfill that purpose is the church.

The local church is God’s planned organization to fulfill His purpose. And for the church to operate effectively and efficiently, every member of the church needs to be using the unique gift God has given to him or to her.

You know it’s interesting that the Greek word translated “gift”—for example, in 1 Peter 4:10 as “each one has received a special gift”— is charisma, or plural charismata. This same word is used in Romans 12 to describe the seven gifts. The word charismata comes from two shorter words. One is the word that is transliterated charis. It’s a word that means grace. And that word charis can be broken down to a shorter word char, which means joy. So char is joy, charis is grace, and charismata is gift.

There is an inseparable link between joy, grace, and a spiritual gift. The Bible says when we receive the charis, the grace of God through Jesus Christ, with that grace comes a charisma, a spiritual gift. And when we exercise that gift, we experience char, true joy and fulfillment in life.

***
Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Discovering and Using Your Spiritual Gift — Message 1” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.