Spiritual Gifts of a Different Sort

So what is your spiritual gift? Encouragement? Teaching? Giving? Craftsmanship? Prophecy?

Wait, did you just say “craftsmanship”?

I am fully convinced we church people make two significant mistakes when we think about our roles in the church body. First, we look to the lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament and think they are exhaustive. The second is the divorce we make between what we like to consider “spiritual” and “natural.”

There are at least two lists in Paul’s writings on spiritual gifts. These lists are not identical and I believe that is intentional. First, as always, Paul is writing to a specific audience with particular concerns in mind. In neither instance is he intending to be exhaustive on the issue of spiritual gifts. If he were, then why are some included in one list and not the other or vice versa? The answer is simple, though we often overlook it. Paul is not being exhaustive, but illustrative. But if this is the case, then how can we create a complete and exhaustive list of the gifts. We need to know if we are to help people take spiritual gift inventory questionnaires and help them find there calling in the church. This sounds like a significant conundrum.

Well, our answer is found in our second problem. We tend to divorce the spiritual and the “secular” into categories not conducive to biblical thought. In the Bible those lines are blurred, and what we would consider “natural” or “secular” may have very spiritual implications or opportunities. Consider Bezalel and Olihab. They appear first in Exodus 31 and again in chapter 35. These are two men singled out by God with this statement; “ the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship…” God would call out these men, and gift them in a particular way which is not included in our spiritual gift inventories.

A friend of mine once struggled with our lists, noting he never felt gifted in any of the areas we regularly included. Then he read about Bezalel. The light came on. God had gifted him in ways that he could help the Church, ways that while not included in our New Testament lists, are still gifts just the same. He is able to serve the church by the work of his hands. Not just through building maintenance, but also by helping other church members with projects in their homes. He found he could greatly bless others by the work of his hands, and thus minister to them.

He understood it. The purpose of “spiritual gifts” is what helps us to see if something is a spiritual gift. We must ask ourselves the question, “is there something I can do that can minister to the needs of others?” When we are able to answer yes, then do it. That is how God has equipped us. He has readied every person in the body to minister to every other person. And there is no limit to what that might look like. May we become creative in seeing how each of us might work toward reaching our brother or sister in the pew next to us.