The purpose of spiritual gifts is two-fold: to unify the body of Christ/Christians in their faith and to produce within the church growth that is both numerical and spiritual.
The unity spiritual gifts bring is not uniformity; in fact, these gifts can be explained just like fingerprints. We all have them, yet no two sets look alike. Each spiritual gift fused with personality and physical attributes manifests differently in each individual. Now that we are aware of the gifts, it is crucial to God’s plan that we use them.
God has given the body of Christ an awesome task in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20) and the great command (Act 1:8). Could you imagine approaching these tasks knowing that only you are working at them? They would be impossible. But with the body of Christ working together, we can obey God’s command more fully than we could alone.
God has a greater use for these gifts, and they are not exclusively for your edification. So, what’s the next step? Have you taken a spiritual gifts assessment?
This message is excerpted from “Gifts for you” by Valora K. Starr, a 2011 resource of the Women of the ELCA.
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