How would Christianity change if every born again believer in Jesus Christ knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what their spiritual gift was?
ANSWER: Very little unless they chose to use their gifts and empower them with love.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is dealing with a church that has allowed confusion concerning spiritual gifts to get out of hand. The believers at Corinth had begun to exalt their gifts of the Spirit rather than exalting the Giver of the gifts. As a result, Paul wrote this letter to set them straight. Then in verse 31, he writes this; “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” With that said, he begins to teach what may be the best discourse on love that has ever been taught in chapter 13. The more excellent way that he shows them is how to empower their spiritual gifts with love, which was God’s intention from the beginning.
At this point you might say, “All that is good, but how do I know what my spiritual gifts are?” To which I will ask you, “How important is this to you? Is it important enough to study a handful of scriptures?” My friends, the reality is that most of those that have been saved from their sins and whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, have never taken the time to discover what their spiritual gifts are. This is the reason that the Church is anemic and is without power to stand against unrighteousness. This is also the reason most never bother to share their faith with the lost.
Normally, I would list here the steps to discovering your spiritual gifts as well as back each step up with scripture. But not this time! I will however, give you the scriptures so that those who want to find out what their particular gifts are can study God’s Word and pray until the Holy Spirit reveals it to them.
Romans 12:1-8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
By the way, a spiritual gift is not a talent, but rather a supernatural ability empowered by the Spirit of God. If you are a great singer, congratulations on having such a wonderful talent. But to call this your spiritual gift would be like a boxer saying that boxing is his gift. At the Judgement Seat of Christ you and I will give account of what we did with our spiritual gift. It stands to reason that if we never discover what it is, then we will probably never use it. If we never use it, then what excuse will we give to the Lord at the Judgement Seat?
“Non-believers are the walking dead. A casual Christian is alive, but on life support. One that has chosen to soar with Christ by exercising their spiritual gift is bursting with anticipation of the next charge from his Master!”
Wayne Hudson
NOTE: A great, concise resource for you to read on this topic can be found here: https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/s/spiritual-gifts.html