Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
–1 Corinthians 12:27
This week, we have looked in detail at each of the seven spiritual gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8. Then we did a brief overview of the spiritual gifts as a way of ascertaining what your gift is. Today, I have some more words of application about this subject of spiritual gifts.
First, don’t worry if you have not yet identified your spiritual gift. It takes time and experience in various ministries to discover your gift. Second, distinguish between your gift and your ministry. There is a difference between the role you are in and your spiritual gift.
The third application about spiritual gifts is this: the context for your gift is the local church. Why did God give you your spiritual gift? It was not to help the Boy Scouts or the American Cancer Society or a political convention. There are many reputable charities that we can help, but that is not the primary place God intends for you to use your spiritual gift. God gave you a spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ and share His message with others. That is where you use your gift.
If you file away what you have learned about spiritual gifts this week and say, “Well, wasn’t that interesting!” and never do another thing about it, then you will have missed the whole point. You are never going to find true joy and genuine fulfillment in your life until you connect to God’s purpose and start doing the one thing He left you here on earth to do. God did not leave you here to have a successful career, to build up a big bank account, or even to have a happy family life. He left you here to fulfill His agenda of making disciples. Only when you connect your life with God’s purpose are you going to find fulfillment, and the way God has given you to connect with His purpose is through exercising the spiritual gift He has given you.
I hope you will have as your goal to find a place of service in your local church where you can use your spiritual gift. Your church will not ever reach its potential until you are out of the pew and in a place of service. How do you find the place of service?
No matter what church you go to, there are different ministry opportunities available. No one can do everything, but everybody can do something. And I encourage you to find at least one thing you can do to help your local body of believers function more effectively in spreading the message of Christ to the world.
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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Using Your Spiritual Gift” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2014.
Scripture quotations are 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.