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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
The Questionnaire
The guys in my Bible study had been talking about our spiritual gifts. Not that we knew anything about them, but we were trying to guess what ours might be and which ones the other guys had. The conversation was really not that serious or enlightening.
So, our leader said he would go to the Christian bookstore in town and see if he couldn't find some sort of book or something to help us discern our gift. The next week he came back with something called the Modified Houts Questionnaire.
We spent one winter Saturday morning over breakfast filling in little bubbles in response to various questions. It took about an hour. Once we were finished, there was this little chart and we had to go back and cross reference our various answers with point values in columns. The higher the point value in the gift area, the more likely it was that was your spiritual gift.
You can imagine the fun that ensued when we went around the table and said what gifts the test said we had.
I scored off the charts in two areas:
Martyrdom...
...and Celibacy.
"You'll get killed in some gruesome way and you'll never ever get to have sex!" Benner yelled in the restaurant louder than we all realized. The chaos and laughter that ensued over the 50 or so jokes about my gifts was worth taking the test. We had a ball that morning...and they even kidded me about it at my wedding.
But the reality is that we all do have a spiritual gift. Check out Ephesians 4: 11--16 (from The Message):
"He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything. We'll take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."
There is the reality that, when we were saved by Him, He gave us a spiritual gift. This is a very short list of some here (we'll be looking at a longer list later in the week) but the focus here is on the REASON we have the gift:
To train others to be skilled in the work Christ has for them. Helping others form into fully mature believers in Christ...
...both inside and outside...
...to live like Christ.
So, we're gifted. With this gift comes the reality that we're to use it in some way to help the Body mature in Him.
And I can assure you from experience you likely won't find out what is is from a test or questionnaire (seeing as how I'm alive and married, I'm either VERY far from the will of God or the test might've had some inherent flaws or something like that). Rather, you're more likely to figure it out by simply diving in and serving somewhere...and one of the clues will be whether or not you truly deep-down enjoy that particular service opportunity.
So, for example, if you have a chance to teach a Sunday School class and you dread the preparation and effort and delivery of the lesson, you're probably not gifted as a teacher. However, if you really enjoy getting the room ready for the party that night, you're probably big in the area of hospitality (yes that's a real gift...and a valuable one at that).
But the point is that you're seeking it out...
And the question for today is, well, I'll let you ask them. What questions do you have on finding out your area of giftedness?
Brent 5:02 AM
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