Spiritual gifts - what's the big deal...?

by Esther C (Following on from ‘The Gathering’ at the start of February…)
‘The Gathering’ is for all students and young adults and happens every first Sunday at Ebe Church Building, 6pm.

I don't know about you, but when I think about spiritual gifts, I get an excitement that bubbles up inside me, as well as a bit of fear, and a huge amount of respect for what they are. I sometimes feel like that character out of ‘Little Britain’ and sometimes say to God “I want that one” without really thinking about what having 'that gift' would mean. I often ask myself questions such as, “Am I ready for the responsibility of having that gift?”, “Do I want that amount of knowledge, and in a sense, power?”, “Will I obey God when He tells me to use that gift, no matter what the situation?”, and “Will I give it all back to Him, remembering that it was He who gave me the gift so that He will be glorified, not me?”. I honestly can't sit here and tell you that my answer will always be “yes”, but pray that one day it will be.

John 14:2 says “...whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”. If I'm reading that right, Jesus says that we can do even greater things than he did, and he raised people from the dead! Thinking that God could choose me to be a mediator between Him and an individual, so that they could be raised from the dead, or healed, or whatever else He might want to do quite simply Blows. My. Mind! I'm just an ordinary person, so do I really believe that God could use me/you? He used the disciples who were ordinary people, so yes I do believe that He could use me/you to do His works. Do you?

1 Corinthians 12: 4-6 says “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us”. I think it's really important to remember that gifts are to build the body of Christ, and “God has put each part just where He wants it”. Therefore, if you feel that you have a spiritual gift that doesn't seem very 'important', remember that God chose to give you that gift for a reason (read 1 Corinthians 12: 22- 27).

Remember that when desiring gifts “let love be your highest goal” (1 Corinthians 14:1), for without love “[we] would have gained nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).

So why does God wants us to desire and use Spiritual gifts? They change lives, they help others, they build the body of Christ, and they glorify God, plus other things. So what are we waiting for...?!