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This past weekend, special guests Sam and Emmanuel Acho continued Against All Odds with a message on spiritual gifts. They talked about how to grow our spiritual gifts and how important it is to share our gifts in service to others. During their message, Emmanuel read 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, a portion of scripture that talks about spiritual gifts. 

 

There are three key points in the above passage:

 

1) Not all of us have the same gift. There’s a difference between wants and gifts. A pastor once said, “I cannot put in what God left out.” Before we were ever born, God gave us gifts, talents, and unique abilities, and each one of us is different. Some of us have the gift of teaching, while others of us have the gift of giving. Instead of trying to be like someone else, wanting what they have, let’s focus on building up the unique abilities God has put inside each of us.

 

2) Our gifts are from God. Each of us has been abundantly blessed by God and can do amazing things through Him. Some of us are fantastic speakers, where others of us have unending faith no matter the circumstances. It’s important to remember these gifts are from God. When we start to excel at something, and the praise begins to come, let’s be quick to say, “To God be the glory.” It’s important to remember it’s because of God we are who we are. God blessed us; it’s nothing we did. Let’s keep our egos in check and be humble before others.

 

3) Using our gifts to glorify God. So many of us are using our gifts to excel in our finances, status, and popularity. Are we forgetting to excel God’s Kingdom? God gave us our gifts to serve Him and each other–not ourselves. Later on in the above passage, Paul describes how the Church is one body with many parts. Our gifts are essential to help the Church, and without our gifts, the Church is a lesser place. Let’s be sure we’re using our gifts as God intended them.

 

When it comes to our spiritual gifts, let’s take time to study and find out what they are (online assessment tools are a great resource), let’s build up our gifts and strengthen them, and lastly, let’s use them to progress God’s Kingdom. He’s uniquely blessed each of us. Now how do we use our gifts, talents, and abilities to be a blessing to others?