By Dynamis Ministries | October 28, 2021
Think of a time when you heard someone referred to as “gifted.” Maybe it was in reference to an elite athlete or a talented artist. Maybe it was an intelligent honor student at school or an eloquent public speaker. Gifted people are often distinguished because they have an exceptional quality or ability. “Gifted” is a term that society reserves for the best of the best in performance. But do you know that you are extraordinarily gifted as well?
That’s right! Whether it’s on display in your everyday life, or waiting to be uncovered for others to see, you have been blessed with exceptional gifts. The gifts we speak of are not natural gifts, such as those qualities we inherit from our family lineage. The gifts we are referring to are spiritual gifts, which are given to us directly by God through the Holy Spirit. God has generously blessed each of us with unique spiritual gifts because of his great love for us.
This is encouraging, but what’s the purpose of these gifts? The answer can be found in 1 Corinthians 12 where the Apostle Paul lays out the big picture of spiritual gifts in the kingdom of God. This is a good starting point to learn more about them, and it would do us well to spend time reading and reflecting on this chapter to understand the importance of spiritual gifts in God’s economy. Among a lot of great insights about spiritual gifts, Paul makes a clear point that we can all grasp: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (v.7). In other words, our spiritual gifts are meant for generosity!
So often when we think about generosity we think about money. While money is a significant part of generosity, there are other components as well, such as time and gifts. We do generosity the best when we use our spiritual gifts because in this way, we are connecting all of the components of generosity into a single generous act – time, gifts and resources. Recently a very motivated participant in the Generosity Plan process with Dynamis Ministries took this idea to heart. This person’s spiritual gifts were elevated in her plan as with all participants. She embraced them took action in one of her passions, and the results were amazing! Check this out:
In response to her passion for women’s issues, specifically supporting women affected by breast cancer, she created an online fundraiser through a social media platform to raise support for this cause. Through this generous act she was able to use 3 of her top 5 spiritual gifts – administration, teaching and service. She used her administration gifts to create an online fundraiser. Her gift of teaching was evident by educating others on the issue and bringing more people to partake in her fundraiser, thus multiplying the impact of her generosity. Her gift of service was on display in creating this fundraising event to care for those with cancer. The results of this were immediate. Within 24 hours she hit her fundraising goal!
Spiritual gifts are clearly a significant aspect of generosity, yet too often they are overlooked. We need to change this together! As we continue to grow in generosity, the development of our spiritual gifts should be a priority. It is important to be aware of our individual spiritual gifts, but more importantly we should make steps to grow and cultivate those gifts. By bringing our spiritual gifts to the forefront, we are getting one step closer to reaching our full generosity potential. And when we realize more of our generosity potential, our impact increases and so does the joy of being in direct partnership with God.
