Corinthians 3 Thursday: Got Gifts?

Since the creation of Earth there has been a plan. Part of that plan included an individual who was absolutely unique. No other person in the world has ever been or will ever be exactly the same...and that person is YOU.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to bstruggle with the laste.

Psalm 139:16

You are fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of this universe to do something and be something special! He made you unique, and that's what we're talking about today. How are you unique?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

What are your talents?

What are your spiritual gifts?

If you're anything like me when I was first presented with this question, then you're probably familiar with the answers to the first couple questions, but at the last your eyes glazed over and you could hear crickets chirping.

I'm a talker...DUH. Communication has always been a strength of mine. I'm a semi-decent leader, too. My weaknesses? I hate confrontation, and will avoid it at all costs...and sometimes those costs are great. I can also take on too much, which means I'm not wise with my energy and I end up not putting forth the effort I should on the important stuff. Talents? I speak, write, act, and sing. 

But that's the easy part. Most of us have known what we were "good at" since we were small. The world is fantastic about telling us exactly where our strengths lie...well, to be more accurate, it's good at telling us where our strengths don't lie. 

Take some time to think about the answers to the first two questions now. List them out...I dare you. Seeing yourself on paper is different. It helps solidify the concept of "you" in your mind.

Okay...now for the third one. You can tackle this one a couple ways. 

First, you could just do what I did and take Elmer Towns' Spiritual Gifts Assessment. It takes about 10-15 minutes, and after seeing some other people's results (including mine) I say it's pretty accurate.

OR, for those of you who are bound and determined not to take an assessment, you can take a look at the list below and see which gifts seem the most "you" (from Appendix G of Christian Coaching by Gary Collins). Once you're done with that, go back and look at the ones you checked and rate them as a 1, 2, or 3. 1=very strong and descriptive of you. 2=somewhat strong and descriptive of you. 3=least descriptive of the items you checked. 

Administration	Shepherding	Intercession
Craftsmanship	Wisdom	Leadership
Evangelism	Apostleship	Prophecy
Giving	Creative Communication	Teaching
Hospitality	Encouragement	Healing *
Knowledge	Faith	Miracles *
Mercy	Helps	Counseling **
Interpretation *	Celibacy **	Serving **
Tongues *	Music **
*   These gifts are not included in some lists because they are more easily identified.
** These gifts are not listed in Scripture but are identified by some Christians as spiritual gifts.

The list of 1s may be your spiritual gifts. However, to confirm this, you may want to give the list to someone who knows you well to repeat the process. That may give you a stronger idea of the areas in which God has gifted you.

"The areas in which God has gifted you." That is an awesome phrase!! Our living God has chosen to give each of us gifts to go along with our completely unique personalities so that we may accomplish the plans He set out for us!! 

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11

Amen, indeed! 

When I got my spiritual gifts assessment results, I was a little surprised, not by what they were, but by the fact that they were four...and they were dead even. However, that's not really too big of a shocker when you look at the rest of my life. 

I'm a dabbler. I have a tendency to be a "jack of all trades, but master of none." So, when Mr. Towns' assessment tagged me at dead even in Teaching, Exhortation, Mercy Showing, and Shepherding, there may have been initial surprise, but then it made sense. Plus, they kind of just go together in a lot of ways. 

What about you? How has God made you unique? What are your strengths, talents, and gifts?

This is really important because, combined with what we've done the last two weeks, this will help us construct our visions and missions next week! We're almost done assessing where we are, and then we get to move forward!!

Please comment or link below! And feel free to grab my button on the right, too!

If you're just now joining us, Corinthians 3 Thursdays are designed to help us find our pursue our individual callings based upon two Corinthians verses: 1 Corinthians 3:8-11 and  2 Corinthians 3:17-18. As  guide, we're using the book Christian Coaching by Gary Collins. For more information, you can visit this post or any of the earlier Corinthians 3 Thursday posts below:

Corinthians 3 Thursday Post 1: Clarifying Values
Corinthians 3 Thursday Post 2: Pursuing Passion