True Spiritual Gifting.
Getting Beyond Your Talent.
We have always been told that if we want to find or figure out our true purpose or our life path,
We should look to our personal gifts.
You know,
Those natural talents that you have that come so naturally that you consider them mundane.
Those gifts that are so effortless to you that you don't understand why everyone else explodes in amazement when you display it because you barely disturbed a brain cell to accomplish whatever it was you accomplished.
So yes,
Those gifts are wonderful and certainly provide insight to some of your natural inclinations.
But I want to challenge you to get beyond that.
Okay?
And why would I do that?
Because as wonderful as these gifts and talents are,
We can become overly reliant upon them and thus limit our experiences in our attempts to pursue the limitless.
In truth,
Becoming dependent upon these gifts puts limits on our experiences with God.
We are creatures of comfort.
We get that comfortable cushion in that comfortable box and we are content to stay there.
Even if the length and width of that box is miles long,
We have identified boundaries of how far we are actually willing to push ourselves.
Our gifts make us comfortable.
They are effortless and we love them.
Because we love the comfort,
It goes without saying that we reject any potential experience that takes us out of this comfort.
We reject any potential experience that involves using something other than our gifts.
And if we are forced to face such experiences,
We merely endure them,
Getting through them as quickly as possible so that we can get back to our comfort.
And let's be honest,
We love the attention our gifts and talents bring.
Sure,
We act confused and surprised when people love what we do,
But our human hearts love the validation.
The attention confirms us,
Connects us,
Makes us feel important,
And who doesn't crave that?
So it is because of these reasons that I know what I'm asking you to do is causing you to look at me askance,
Aka give me the side eye.
But it is with good reason that I ask for your consideration.
Identifying with these gifts and holding so strongly to them encourages a self-centered orientation rather than a God-centered orientation.
So am I asking you to ignore the very gifts that God gave you?
No,
Not at all.
They are still valuable.
What I am inviting you to do is to expand yourself.
If you truly want a God-led purpose-generating experience,
Then be willing to pursue the true spiritual gift.
The true spiritual gift is a supernatural empowering to do whatever assignment God gives you.
Hmm,
Sounds vague.
Of course it is!
It's vague because it could literally be anything.
See,
We in our humanness have identified a handful of things that we're good at,
And we are content with the handful.
However,
God has created us with so much more potential.
God can use you in anything,
But you have to be willing to go beyond your thing to operate in God for everything.
Here's what the true spiritual gift does.
Simply put,
It moves you to God-centeredness.
I know you want to say that you're already God-centered,
But how many of us ask God to bless what we want,
But never ask to be led into what God wants?
How many of us give God the glory when we receive the product of a prayer,
But then lament over his supposed absence or complain about the influence of the devil when it's clear that God's answer to your prayer was no?
If we are honest with ourselves,
We are self-centered,
But we give God kudos.
We are determined to be self- determined,
And we often relegate God to the position of that nice parent that makes us a good breakfast before we head out the door walking in whatever direction we choose.
So operating in true spiritual gifting,
The supernatural empowerment to do whatever God assigns us to do,
Moves us to God-centeredness.
It compels us to always remember that God is our source.
I don't mean in a cerebral or warm and fuzzy heart kind of way.
When God sends you out to do something that is beyond your comfort zone,
You will lean on him every moment of every day.
You will be as dependent upon him as a baby depends on a caregiver to bring them a bottle.
And as much as we love God,
We are uncomfortable with the idea that we would have no influence over the situation.
The very idea of the potentiality of not being able to use one of my beloved gifts makes me pause on the supposed walk with God.
And speaking of walking with God,
That's what operating in the true spiritual gifting creates.
You walking with God rather than God walking with you.
That's right.
Are you brave enough to abandon your carefully crafted,
Well thought out,
Five-year plan looking path?
Are you willing to instead walk a path with God that only makes you aware of one step at a time?
It is no joke when I say that God knows that's the hardest thing to do is to trust God when you have your own ideas in mind.
And yet,
He asks us to trust him anyway.
After all,
He does have the operator's manual and knows best how to maneuver us into our fullest potential.
So I encourage you,
Appreciate the gifts that God gave you,
But be willing to lay them aside in pursuit of the true spiritual gifting.
Open yourself up to all of the experiences God has lined up for you,
Leaning on him and trusting in his guidance.
Thank you for listening.
