Discovering Your Purpose

There are several ways to discover your life purpose. One of the following methods could be an eye-opening experience for you. It could also add much value and richness to your life.

1. The Obituary: One way to approach purpose is to think about coming to the end of your life and looking back on all you’ve become and all you’ve accomplished. What do your actions and behaviors say about your purpose? If one knew nothing about what you believed and valued, what would they know about your life purpose based on what they observed you do during your life? If you were attending your own funeral and someone who knew you well was delivering your obituary, what would you truly want to hear them say about you? How would you desire more than anything to be described at that moment?

2. The Personal Profile: This is another good tool to discover who you are and how you are wired; what are your strengths, gifts, talents, temperament, passion, values, and unique life experiences? Knowing your personal profile gives big clues to the unique purpose you are called to and equipped to live. Life purpose is the reason we are on this planet. It’s the thing we are meant to accomplish, the gift we are meant to bring. It’s not simply about a job or even a vocation. It is the round-the-clock, twenty-four-hour, every-day-of-your-life expression of who you are when you are reaching your full potential. Life purpose is spiritual in origin and uniquely shaped to you. So looking at how you are “shaped” helps you discover what your unique life purpose is, the special contribution you have been equipped to make in the lives of others and this world.

The truth is, when we are “on purpose” we are most fulfilled. We are contributing and making a difference in transformative and meaningful ways. We live with a sense of congruence and alignment with who we feel we really are. We consequently have a much higher level of peace and passion because we know deep inside that we’re living out our true purpose, our life not someone else’s life or the life someone else thinks we should live. Our life satisfaction level is profoundly high because we can see that we’re making a meaningful contribution to others. We are living in harmony with God’s dream for our lives and that brings with it a profound sense of joy.

And the flip side is equally true: when we are “off purpose” we are discontented and unfulfilled. We feel off balance and rudderless, just kind of going with wherever the popular flow goes. We use up lots of energy that doesn’t go anywhere. It’s easy simply spinning our wheels, going fast but going nowhere. We’re easily distracted by whatever voice shouts the loudest; the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We tend to say “yes” to too many things and then get overtired. We lose our sense of direction and get easily confused. So we end up often feeling dead, disconnected, dissatisfied, and ultimately burned out too quickly and too often. And we come to the end of our lives and have lots of regrets. On the other hand, a clear life purpose is like a big neon sign that helps us find our way out of the swamp when we get stuck.

3. The Mission Statement: A third tool is to try writing your life purpose in one sentence. “For me, to live is …” (complete the sentence). “For me, to be fully alive is …” (complete the sentence). “My true life legacy will be …” (complete that sentence).

It has been said that life purpose is a path. It is like East. You cannot ever get to a place called East—it is a direction, not a location—but you may be on a path your whole life going in that direction. There will be plenty of voices, internal and external, telling you to go in different directions. And sometimes you will listen, especially when you are unsure of your purpose. But finding and claiming a life purpose gives you the truest direction for your life. A true life purpose statement can make you virtually unstoppable.

Why am I Here? - Living with a Purpose

Larry was a truck driver, but his life-long dream was to fly. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. So when he finally left the service, he had to satisfy himself with watching others fly the fighter jets that crisscrossed the skies over his backyard. As he sat there in his lawn chair, he dreamed about the magic of flying.

Then one day Larry Walters got an idea. He went down to the local army-navy surplus store and bought a tank of helium and forty-five weather balloons. These were not your brightly colored party balloons, these were heavy-duty spheres measuring more than four feet across when

fully inflated

Back in his yard, Larry used straps to attach the balloons to his lawn chair, which was just a typical aluminum lawn chair, the kind you might have in your own back yard. He and some friends anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with helium. He took a CB radio, sandwiches, cold drinks, a camera, and his pellet gun, figuring he could pop a few of the balloons when it was time to return to earth.

His preparation complete, Larry Walters sat in his chair and cut the anchoring cord. His plan was to lazily float up a couple hundred feet, spend awhile enjoying the wonder of flight he’d been dreaming about all his life, then float back down to terra firma. But things didn’t quite work out that way.

When he cut the cord, he didn’t lazily float up; he shot up as if fired out of a cannon! He didn’t go up a couple of hundred feet, either. He rocketed up and up until he finally leveled off at 16,000 feet. That’s almost three miles straight up into the atmosphere. At that height, he was afraid to risk deflating any of the balloons lest he unbalance the load and really experience flying. But after 45 minutes, he did shoot several balloons, then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. He slowly descended, and got caught in some utility lines, causing a twenty minute blackout in a Long Beach neighborhood. But at least he was able to climb down.

Unfortunately, while up there, Larry had drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport, which put him in violation of FAA regulations concerning flying in an airport zone without maintaining two-way communication with control, so the minute he landed he was arrested. As he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reporter called out, “Mr. Walters, why did you do it?” Larry stopped, eyed the man, and then replied nonchalantly, “A man can’t just sit around!” (Wikipedia)

It’s hard not to have some degree of admiration for a man like that. Sure, his idea was crazy and foolishly dangerous, pretty ludicrous. But the fact is, flying was his lifelong dream and he decided to go after it. When you consider how many people in this world are satisfied to risk nothing, to try nothing, to imagine nothing, you begin to appreciate someone like Larry Walters. You begin to respect that he was someone consumed with a mission. And not only did he have the vision and strategic plan to carry it out, he had the passion that was willing to take risks in spite of the odds. “A man just can’t sit around!” As a matter of fact, Mr. Walters was in brief demand after his stunt, as a motivational speaker.

So many people are satisfied with a life mission of simply trying to make it to death safely. But in the end, when they look back on their life, do you think they feel satisfied and meaningful?

Howard Hendricks puts it this way: “A mission is a charge, a guiding mandate that defines a task. In fact, ‘mission’ derives from a word that means ‘to send’ or ‘sent.’ Thus a person with a mission is a person with a purpose. He is out to accomplish something. He feels a sense of responsibility to fulfill that purpose, and if he is genuinely dedicated to it, it guides his actions.” (Hendricks)

This is how it worked with Larry Walters. Everything he thought and planned and ended up doing was guided by his one mission and purpose in life – to fly one way or another. Imagine the thinking and planning he had to do to accomplish this. Imagine the risk of ridicule he faced as he may have shared his plan with others. What do you think those sales clerks said when he bought 48 big weather balloons and the helium to fill them up? How about that airlines pilot? Mission-focused living is risky. But in the end, it’s the only way to live successfully and effectively.

So have you ever asked yourself the question, What is my purpose in life? What is my mission? Why am I here? Why am I using up oxygen on this planet? What is my life all about?

The Results of a Peace-making Strategy

Back to the saying of Jesus: If you and I are willing to be active peacemakers, what is the promise? “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” That phrase “children of God” in the original language describes an adjective which in this case literally means “Godlike.” The theologian John Broadus put it this way: “There is no more Godlike work to be done in this world than peace-making.”

In other words, we are never more like God than when we are joining Him in initiating and mediating His peace to the brokenness in our world. And how did God do that? By identifying Himself completely and totally with the people He was trying to bring peace to – humanity. By becoming one with broken and alienated and conflicted people, God was able to bring reconciliation and wholeness. That’s the story of Jesus.

When you and I recognize and acknowledge our common humanity with each other—that we are all in the same boat, no one better than another, each one in need equally of shalom, peace, wholeness, completeness, love and grace—we are empowered to love and accept each other more unconditionally than before. Accepting the truth that we are all children of God (making us all brothers and sisters in the same human family) strengthens our resolve and ability and desire to be peace-makers like Jesus and the God of Jesus. This activity, says Jesus, is the evidence that we are indeed children of God. Jesus promises that the God of peace will join us in this divine work. The peacemaker never makes peace alone. God is always there empowering this divine action. And those who are willing to engage in this Godly behavior will be “blessed”—which literally means that “joy” will be the experience for them—a powerful and sometimes mysterious transcending of pain and suffering as evil is redeemed for good.

There was an article in the newspaper several years ago titled, “Ordinary Folks Find Peace in Extraordinary Act.” It told several stories of people who were able to find it within themselves to forgive those who had hurt them in painful ways. One of the stories was of Walter Everett, a United Methodist pastor in Hartford, Connecticut.

Walter’s shock at the murder of his 24-year-old son Scott turned to rage when the killer plea-bargained his way to a five-year sentence. When the killer, a drug addict named Michael Carlucci, was sentenced, he looked over at the Everett’s and said, “Although they must sound like empty words to you, I am sorry for what I’ve done.”

Everett’s friends dismissed the remorse as a ploy for leniency, but Walter Everett was moved. On the anniversary of his son’s death, Walter decided to write a letter to Carlucci. He talked about his family’s suffering and said, “The pain is almost unbearable. And I cannot accept one person having so little regard for another.”

But then he wrote, “Although words seem so trivial in some ways (yet they are all that we have now), I do accept your apology, and as hard as these words are to write, I add: I forgive you.”

Those words, Walter said, became a turning point for him. “I felt a terrible, heavy burden lifted from my shoulders. It was the beginning of healing for me.”

But it wasn’t the end. His wife divorced him because she just couldn’t understand his forgiveness. And then anger and resentment returned to him when he discovered, a few months later, that Carlucci had been transferred from a maximum- to a medium-security prison.

But Walter decided to go visit Carlucci anyway. They were engaged in small talk when Carlucci suddenly reached over and embraced Walter. Through tears, Carlucci said, “I’ve never been forgiven by anyone before.” Walter wept, too.

Through Walter’s courageous and gracious initiative, a relationship began. In 1994, Pastor Everett officiated at Carlucci’s wedding. Here’s what Everett says now: “When I look at Mike, I don’t see a man who murdered my son. I see a man who is forever changed by God and who is a part of my family. And I celebrate that.”

No one can tell Walter Everett that it’s easy being a peacemaker. But no one can tell him it’s not worth it, either. It takes guts. It takes grace. It takes God’s love. But for God’s children, peace is always worth the price. After all, there is no personal liberation and deliverance or relational “shalom” without it.

A Strategy for Peace

So what makes it possible to be a real peace-maker in any situation where God’s peace is needed? How can we bring “shalom”, the wholeness and completeness of God, into our relationships and into the brokenness of this world? How can we mediate this peace to our own selves?

First, peacemaking begins with an acceptance of God’s peace in our own hearts. We cannot give what’s not real to us. We can only be peace-makers when we’ve placed ourselves in a position to experience God’s gracious peace in our hearts. “Therefore, since we have been made right and reconciled through faith, we have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

But there’s a challenge to this whole peace process. Most of us find it difficult to initiate peace with others because we’re not at peace with the person who lives in our own skin. Often we’re harder on ourselves than on anyone else. We find it difficult to forgive ourselves, even after we’ve heard and accepted the forgiveness of God.

What are the things that keep you from being at peace with yourself? Is it unresolved guilt? Unconfessed sin? Is it blockage in the spiritual plumbing caused by some pain or hurt in the past that you’ve never dealt with or let go? Is it a picture of God that portrays God as one who keeps track of your failures and holds them against you, one who likes you only when you do well, one who’s impossible to please?

If it’s any of these things, than you and I need to ask God to help us love ourselves as unreservedly as He loves us. That is the power of confession and acknowledgement of sin and failure. We confess it and acknowledge it in order to let it go. We give it to God and God wipes the guilt away. God refuses to hold our sins and failures against us. That’s called grace. He gives us love unreservedly with no conditions or strings attached. When we take that step, we experience a powerful internal liberation and deliverance.

Sometimes, in order to be able to take these significant steps, we may need to visit with a trusted person who can help us resolve whatever hurts or pains are still there, someone who can help free us from our self-condemnation. Being in a small caring group where we’re loved and accepted for who we are, not for what we should be, can mediate God’s peace to our hearts. And in that context, little by little we can find ourselves feeling the “shalom” that comes from being at peace with God and with ourselves. A caring and compassionate counselor can be of inestimable help, too, in many situations.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus … And the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:1, 6) So first, accept God’s peace for yourself.

Second, the natural overflow of that inner peace will be a transformed attitude toward the people around us. Here’s how this works: because God’s peace is active in our hearts, we no longer see people as competitors or enemies or threats. We are more readily able to identify ourselves with others, recognizing our common humanity. The word “sympathy” is a Greek compound word synpaschein. “Syn” means together with. “Paschein” means to experience or suffer. When joined, the words that comprise “sympathy” are, “suffering together.” Sympathy is an identification with the suffering of another by the willingness to enter into the other’s pain.

Joseph Damien was a missionary in the 19th century who ministered to people with leprosy on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Those suffering lepers grew to love him and revered the sacrificial life he lived out before them day in and day out.

But no matter how much he loved them, they still knew he was fundamentally different. He could go to bed every night feeling whole and complete, and wake up totally intact. He could love them but he really couldn’t identify with them.

Then one morning before he was to lead out in their daily worship, he was pouring some hot water into a cup when the water swirled out and fell onto his bare feet. It took him a moment to realize that he hadn’t felt any sensation. Gripped by sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more boiling water on the same spot. No feeling whatsoever.

Damien immediately knew what had happened. As he stood up to tearfully deliver his sermon, everyone instantly noticed the difference in his opening line. He normally began every sermon with “My fellow believers.” But this time he began with “My fellow lepers.” For the first time, he was able to truly sympathize with these lepers because he was now suffering with them as one of them.

This is why the story of Jesus is so significant to the whole experience of peace. The Bible presents Jesus as the God who became one with humanity by taking on the entirety of human life, by becoming completely human with all the pain and suffering of being human. Jesus showed a God who could truly sympathize in every way with humanity because he became one with us and felt everything we feel.

When we see our common humanity with all others, when we experience God’s peace through Jesus and come to peace with ourselves (sympathizing with our own selves), we are more empowered to be peacemakers, people willing to initiate reconciliation and wholeness wherever it’s needed, people with the courage to take the first steps because our hearts are feeling the common pain and suffering of others.

So take an inventory right now; think of the relationships in your life. Are there any that are broken? Are you at odds with any one? Are you continuing to hold grudges or memories of hurts that you need to resolve? Who have you harmed or distressed, whose forgiveness do you need to seek? Is there any situation you’re aware of, whether you’re specifically involved or not, to which you can bring God’s peace, wholeness and reconciliation? What is one action step you can take to mediate peace?

A Strategy for Guilt

There’s a very simple but profound saying of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

What does it mean to be a “peacemaker?” The word Jesus used for “peace” is the Hebrew “shalom.” Shalom doesn’t simply mean the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for a person’s highest good. It’s referring to wholeness and completeness in a person’s relationship with himself or herself, with others, with the natural world and with the spiritual world, an intentionally established and maintained harmony and unity with God and all else. Consequently, “shalom” results in a sense of well-being and contentedness that comes from experiencing right relationships. That is “peace” in this saying of Jesus.

In fact, that Hebrew word is often used to describe the biblical concept of “salvation.” Salvation is the entire process of coming to wholeness and completeness as initiated by God and cooperated with by humanity. Shalom is that state of existence brought about by salvation from God which results in complete harmony, unity and peace between God and humanity and between people and each other.

With this saying, Jesus takes this to the next level. Jesus is talking not just about the experience of peace or those who are peaceful or peace-loving or peace-wanting. He is calling for people who are peace-making, working for peace. Big difference.

Very likely Jesus is quoting from the Scriptures of His day: “Stop doing evil and do good. Look for peace and work for it.” (Psalm 34:14). That’s a very profound description.

Abraham Lincoln once said that the peacemaker doesn’t just pull up weeds, he also plants flowers. In other words, peacemaking isn’t just about not doing evil. It’s especially about intentionally doing good, looking for peace and working proactively to bring it about. The peacemaker refuses to remain passive and simply accept things because that’s just the way it is or because trouble might come from doing something about it. Peacemakers demand the active facing of issues, deal with them, and conquer them for the sake of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle. “Look for peace and work for it.”

Remember the Mai Lai massacre during the Vietnam war? U.S. soldiers brutally gunned down some 500 Vietnamese civilians, men, women and children. It stands as one of the darkest moments in American military history. But there is a sliver of light that emanates from that terrible tragedy.

Twenty-four-year-old Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot whose mission was to swoop down over the village and draw fire so helicopters behind him could destroy the enemy with machine gun and rocket fire. But he never drew any enemy fire. Instead, he saw in horror American officers and soldiers on the ground killing villagers. He and his two-man crew saw the bodies of Vietnamese children, women and old men piled in an irrigation ditch. He could see that some were still alive.

So Thompson landed his chopper and got out. He pleaded with the soldiers, “Help the wounded!” Instead, troopers fired into the bodies. Thompson later said, “We wanted to find something that would point the blame on the enemy, but it just didn’t work. It all added up to something we just didn’t want to believe.” He was finally moved to action when he spotted villagers crowded in a hut, an old woman standing in the doorway, a baby in her arms, a child clutching her leg. American soldiers were approaching.

“These people were looking at me for help,” Thompson remembered. “And there was no way I could turn my back on them.” So he made a choice, a very dangerous choice. He got back in his chopper and placed it down in front of the advancing Americans and gave his gunner a simple, direct order: “Train your M-60 on the GIs. If they attempt to harm the villagers, open up on them.” Thompson radioed the two gunships behind him, and they began to airlift the villagers to safety. The standoff lasted for 15 minutes.

On March 6, 1998, the Army finally awarded Thompson and his two crewmen the prestigious Soldier’s Medal. In the citation, they are honored for “heroic performance in saving the lives of Vietnamese civilians during the unlawful massacre of noncombatants by American forces.” After the ceremony, Thompson and his buddy traveled to My Lai and met the people they rescued that day. Imagine what that reunion was like for them.

Blessed are the peacemakers—not just peace-lovers or peace-wanters or peace-hopers but peace-makers—for they shall be called children of God.

What to do with Guilt

The news media reported that a 78-year-old man entered a casino in Reno, Nevada, pulled out a gun and shot and wounded five people. Everyone was in shock, especially as to why an elderly man would do such a violent thing. A spokesman for the casino said that apparently the man was jealous that his wife or girlfriend was at the casino with another man. Interesting way to settle a relationship problem. Fortunately for the authorities, their senior shooter wasn’t difficult to apprehend. According to the news story, they caught him as he tried to shuffle out of the casino with his walker.

We live in a world that is filled with conflict and alienation, a world of fragmented and broken relationships, a world of lost dreams and personal failures. People are hurting for all kinds of reasons and often choose to resolve their pain in ways that instead bring greater pain to themselves and others. It’s so often the case that when we have unresolved guilt and pain inside, we lash out either at ourselves or at others. And the result is a “lose-lose” life.

Is it possible to stop this inherently painful and destructive cycle of alienation and brokenness? Is it possible to live life with a sense of peace in a world of conflict? What can be one with our personal guilt from our own failures? Just live with it? What do we do with those areas of life where we need to either receive forgiveness or give it?

Spiritual Gifts Bottom Line Application

What will you personally do with this Bible concept of spiritual gifts? This is not the kind of topic which is nice to know or just interesting. Now that you are aware of what the Bible teaches on this topic, God expects you to find your own spiritual gifts and begin to utilize them in service to Him, His church and humanity. This is crucial to the future of your spiritual life. This is now the most important focus for you as a follower of Jesus. My duty is to invite you to respond to Christ with a proactive step in faith. What steps will you take next? How can I support you in those steps?

Theological Issues about Spiritual Gifts

There are a number of widespread misunderstandings about spiritual gifts. In fact, these concepts—which are not taught in the Bible—may be more widely known than the truth about this topic. If you discuss “spiritual gifts” with your friends, especially those outside the church, these ideas will come up.

Misunderstanding 1: Spiritual gifts are about miracles. It is widely believed that something is not a spiritual gift unless it is a miracle. God and the spiritual are relegated only to those events that seem to be outside the known scientific laws. Once something comes into the area of explainable knowledge used on an everyday basis, then it is no longer considered to be spiritual. There is simple, straight-forward evidence in Scripture that spiritual gifts are not primarily about miracles. In 1 Corinthians 12:10 the gift of miracles is listed. That alone indicates that not all gifts are about miracles. In fact, most are not. The follower of Jesus who feels a call to heal the sick, goes to medical school or nursing school and develops the ability to treat disease or promote health is exercising a spiritual gift even if they never witness any miracles of healing. Most health professionals—including those who are not believers—will tell you that on rare occasion they witness miracles, but that is not the focus of their service to humanity; it is the exception. This does not make their work any less spiritual or God-ordained. The same is true of the other spiritual gifts, except for the obvious exception of that “gift of miracles” in 1 Corinthians 12:10.

Misunderstanding 2: The gift of languages is always miraculous and this miracle is the most important sign of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. There is a story in Acts 2 in which it is clear that the apostles were miraculously able to preach and be heard in languages they had not learned. Some have taken this event and elevated it to a mandatory miracle that every follower of Jesus must personally experience in order to have confirmation that God is really working their lives. There is no basis in the Bible to make this leap. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 clearly teach that all spiritual gifts are equally important in God’s eyes and that none should be placed on a pedestal as more significant than others. There are also a number of New Testament stories in which the gospel is brought to various communities because the missionaries had learned the language through the normal process of education.

To further complicate this issue, there are some who believe that the most spiritual experience of the gift of languages is when a person speaks an unknown tongue. This supposed unknown tongue is considered to be a “spiritual language” direct from God. This idea is specifically denied in the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 14 it is clearly required that for the gift of languages to be an authentic spiritual manifestation from God, it must be accompanied by interpretation; it must actually convey ideas to someone present. Sounds that are unintelligible to all of those present are not from God, although they may come from some other source.

Misunderstanding 3: The gift of prophecy is the only important spiritual gift. Some Adventists make the gift of prophecy of such importance that they tend to ignore all other spiritual gifts, including their own. Although it is clear that the gift of prophecy is one of the characteristics of God’s presence in the final segment of church history as outlined in the Book of Revelation, it should never become such a focus that believers ignore their own, individual spiritual gifts and call to ministry. Again, we must remember that Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 clearly teach that God considers all spiritual gifts to be equal in His eyes, and that “each” and “every” believer is gifted and expected to serve on the basis of his or her gifts.

The Ministry of the Laity

The New Testament uses the Greek word laos to mean “the people,” as in the phrase “the people of God.” It has become the English word “laity” or “layman” through the Latin translation of the Bible. The Bible does not know anything about the word “clergy.” It was invented after the New Testament was completed. Today, in English, it is common to refer to a “layman” as a person who is not professionally trained in a field, such as, “I am not an astronomer, I am just a layman who enjoys looking at the stars.” The stratification of this term into professional clergy and lay people is something that was manufactured outside the Bible.

In fact, Protestants don’t believe in the lay/clergy division at all. One of the founding principles of the Protestant movement—the Reformation—is “the priesthood of all believers.” Every believer in Jesus, regardless of their education or status, may pray directly to God and secure their salvation through faith in Jesus. No one is dependent on another person to gain access to Christ.

Protestant pastors are considered to be facilitators and teachers, not priests. They may lead out in worship, but it is not required that worship leaders be trained or ordained. Their spiritual authority comes from their spiritual gifts as equippers and leaders, not from the laying on of hands. The ceremony of ordination is recognition of spiritual gifts, bestowed by the Holy Spirit, not a bestowal of anything.

The ministry of pastors and elders (spiritual leaders) in the body of Christ is understood by most. What is less well understood is the ministry of the rest of the believers. They all have spiritual gifts. God expects every single believer, without exception, to serve Him through His body. What can be described as the over-riding single theme of this service? How can it be defined concisely as compared to the ministry of pastors?

As the ministry of pastors and elders is to the believers in the church, so the ministry of the laity is to the non-believers outside the church. The church is a missionary agency; a sending organization that sends the members out into the world to do the work of God in the secular context. If you are not a pastor or elder, then your duty to God is to serve His unsaved children in the secular world. If you are not doing this, then you are unfaithful to the call of God on your life.

“God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts which each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity,” states the official Fundamental Beliefs document of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “When members employ these spiritual gifts as faithful stewards of God’s varied grace, the church is protected from the destructive influence of false doctrine, grows with growth that is from God, and is built up in faith and love.” (Paragraph 17, Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists)

Notice in the paragraph above, that spiritual gifts are given not only for the church, but also for “the common good of … humanity.” The typical church member is to use his or her spiritual gifts in the secular world for the betterment of his or her neighbors, coworkers, professional associates, acquaintances in the community and the civic population in general. Jesus was once asked, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) He responded with a story (which may have been a current event at the time) about a man who was mugged and left to die on a deserted highway. Two respected religious leaders happened by and each left the man in a pool of blood and hurried on, evidently unwilling to get their hands dirty. Then a man despised for his ethnicity and heretical religion came along and immediately rendered first aid, put the wounded man on his mount and took him to the nearest town where he paid the innkeeper to care for the man until he was well enough to travel on. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Jesus asked His questioner, who gave the obvious response, “The one who showed compassion.” (Luke 10:36-37) The authentic followers of Jesus are those who employ their spiritual gifts to show compassion on all who are in need. This is the ministry of the laity, the people of God.

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 6

Take a class on spiritual gifts and ministry. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America has a curriculum for this very topic. It is called Connections. It includes eight lessons, although it is sometimes taught in a single weekend or four weekly sessions. It includes several paper instruments that explore not only your gifts, but also your interests and your personality style or how you interact with others. It is designed to be taught by a team of church members and/or the pastor. It includes some presentations on video or DVD, as well as group discussions and a one-on-one interview by a “consultant” (a trained church member) at the end to wrap up what you have learned and explore how to implement the findings.

Ask around in your church. If there are no plans to have a Connections class at some time in the next year, then ask the pastor to get the seminar package from AdventSource and at least share the textbook with you or, perhaps, go through the course with you in an individual tutorial.

This is an important note to class this section on finding your spiritual gifts: Not every believer spends the rest of their life with the same gift mix. Some do, working for years at the same ministry. But it is clear that others are called to new and different ministries over time. Finding your spiritual gifts is not necessarily a permanent discovery. God may call you to something different at some point in the future. We must always begin every day by thanking God for the opportunity to serve Him again and asking if He has new directions for us.

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 5

Think and pray about starting a new ministry. It is entirely possible that none of the existing ministries in your local church really fit your gifts. This is especially true in a small congregation or one that has done the same things for many years with no new initiatives. In fact, God may have brought you into His body and into this particular local fellowship because He wants to “do a new thing.” (Isaiah 43:19) Do not let anyone discourage you with some variation of “we’ve never done it that way before,” or “we tried that a few years ago and it did not work.” A key weakness of almost all Christian congregations is the way in which they get into a rut and avoid change. God brings new people into these churches—people with new and different gifts—precisely because He wants to shake things up.

If you think that God is possibly calling you to start a new ministry, sit down privately with your pastor and have a serious conversation with him or her. Talk honestly and openly about the difficulty of change that most congregations face. Explore the needs that you feel called to meet. Agree to think about it and pray about it for a period of time and then have another serious conversation. The guidance of your pastor is important; listen to him carefully. But, do not back down too soon if he is one who seeks to avoid the conflict that comes with change. 

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 4

Use an inventory or questionnaire. A number of different versions of a paper “test” have been developed over the years to help followers of Jesus organize their thoughts about how their past experience may indicate the direction God has for their life and service. This works only as well as you are completely honest in answering the questions, and it should never be considered as conclusive. It is simply one more source of information.

These inventory tools work best if you have had some experience in the church. Often the questions presume long experience in the church. In fact, some of the questionnaires can be confusing to a new believer because so much “insider” terminology is used. This is probably a tool to use after you’ve spent a year or more experimenting with several different ministries. It will help to organize your thoughts about the experiences you have had and show you some trends that you would not otherwise be able to see without the objective input of the instrument.

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 3

Try different ministries and see what those experiences tell you.

To be truly a ministry, an experience needs to be something that you do on a weekly or monthly basis for a longer period of time. For example, if you help with the children’s Sabbath School or if you volunteer in the community food pantry each week, that would come under the category of a “ministry.” It is crucial to see how it feels to work with a team over a period of months and find out what that teaches you about yourself and your abilities.

It is essential that you try different ministries and not settle for the first one that you happen to become a part of. Until you have a wide variety of experiences, you cannot really know all that you are capable of. It is also true that if you experience the range of ministries in your congregation, then you will have knowledge of other ministries which you may not find to be a long-term fit with your gift mix. This helps to bring the various ministries together in a strategy in which they support one another instead of compete for human and other resources.

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 2

2. Ask other believers to describe what they see in you.

This is the simplest place to get started. Simply ask other believers who have come to know you as a friend (or, perhaps, knew you even before you became a Christian), “What do you think I would be good at? What do you see in me as abilities that I might contribute to the work of Jesus in our community or in our congregation?” Listen to them carefully. Take notes. Ask more than one or two individuals. Look at your notes and see if themes emerge. If several people mention the same thing, that is worth considering. Respect the individual who asks for time to think; they may provide more insight than the person who responds immediately.

This method works better if the friends you ask for input have seen you in a variety of activities. If all they have seen of you is when you are participating in worship or sitting in a Bible study, then they really don’t have enough observations of you to give valid responses. Most churches have a variety of one-day events and short-term projects for outreach and ministry, and it is important that you participate in a number of these with your friends so that they can get a range of observations upon which to base their feedback to you.

If you are a regular participant in a small group, this might be done as a group exercise. It is a common practice for small groups to go around the circle and for each member to describe what strengths and abilities they see in a new member. This is not usually done immediately after a new member joins the group, but perhaps six months or a year later. In some small group ministries it is the practice to do this on the one-year anniversary of a new member joining the group.

This same exercise is also done in classes on spiritual gifts. It is important to always consider this kind of input as one source of information that needs to be confirmed by other sources. No small group or class has the right to impose an idea about the gifts of an individual on that person. It is simply information that is to be considered and prayed about.

Finding Your Spiritual Gifts part 1

It is rare that a new follower of Jesus has an experience like Paul’s on the road to Damascus where God hits them over the head and speaks to them out of the blue. (See Acts 9.) Almost always God chooses to work through human agents who share the good news about Jesus and bring their friends and acquaintances to faith in Him. The same is true when it comes to identifying the spiritual gifts of most individuals. You should not wait for God to speak to you from a pillar of fire or in a dream. He will most likely work through His servants—your fellow human beings—to help you see what He has placed in you and the work to which He is calling you.

As a practical matter there are a number of ways that you can identify your spiritual gifts. It is also important to understand that in most cases a person does not have a single gift, but two, three or more gifts. The unique, individual aspect is in what is called your “gift mix,” the mix of spiritual gifts that are particular to you as an individual. So, these approaches to finding your spiritual gifts are more about identifying your specific mix of gifts than a particular, individual gift.

In the New Testament spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit and then confirmed by the local, primary community of believers where the individual is an active participant. This confirming experience is vital to the whole notion of spiritual gifts both because it helps the individual find their gifts and because it claims those gifts as part of the body. Remember, spiritual gifts are given “for the common good.” (See above.) So, the task of identifying your particular gift mix is an interactive experience which involves at least a small number of your fellow church members.

1 Corinthians 12:10 lists a gift of discernment, or the ability to “distinguish between spiritual gifts.” This passage indicates that some Christians have a special ability to help identify spiritual gifts. Some commentaries state that Ephesians 4:11-12 indicates that “pastors and teachers” have a special role in this regard, helping “to prepare God’s people for works of service.” It is a central duty of your pastor or elder or small group leader to help each believer in the group identify their spiritual gifts and grow in Christian maturity through, among other things, utilizing those gifts.

These realities help to frame the methods that may be used in identifying your spiritual gifts. Let’s review the practical options available to you:

1. Pray for insight. If you are serious about this spiritual quest, it must be rooted in prayer. Ask God to reveal to you the particular mix of abilities He has created in you and how best to use these gifts for His mission in the world. Do not expect a miracle; that would be presumptuous. It is very unlikely that God is going to appear to you in a dream or send an angel to touch your tongue. We have no right to yearn for such a spectacular response. Remember, we are to “think humbly” of ourselves. God will answer your prayer, most likely through the accumulation of input from the other methods listed here and the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit as the information comes together.  Continued…………….

Spiritual Gifts - Ephesians 4

What are the spiritual implications of “gifts” and service? How central is this teaching to your personal spiritual life and connection with Christ? These are the questions that the New Testament addresses in this passage from the epistle to the church at Ephesus. It begins with a familiar statement repeated from Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12: “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” (Verse 7) Then it moves on immediately to “why” this is true in verse 8.

Paul quotes a text from the Old Testament, the Bible as he knew it. “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (Psalm 68:18) In verses nine and 10, Paul applies this text to Jesus. The reference here may be unclear unless you know something about how certain things were done in Bible times. When a king went to war and then returned victorious, it was the custom to bring back wealth that had been expropriated from the defeated enemy. This would include captives who were sold as slaves as well as money, works of art, expensive furniture, etc. As Paul traveled around the Roman Empire in the First Century he may have actually seen one of these victory parades. The generals always distributed gifts from among the captured items to the citizens of the city.

What is the point that the text is trying to convey here? Spiritual gifts are the spoils of war in Christ’s great conflict with evil and Satan. Because Jesus was victorious on the cross and ascended to the Father on resurrection day, He has the right to give gifts to His people. He has a right to His share of the skills, technology, intellectual and physical wealth in the world, and for Him nothing is more valuable than human beings.

In this sense each individual who becomes a follower of Jesus is a gift. Paul in this passage shifts the language from describing spiritual gifts as somewhat objective commodities or abilities (wisdom, prophecy, etc.) to personal roles. “He gave some to be [this], some to be [that].” (Verse 11) He uses several examples, “apostles … prophets … evangelists … pastors and teachers,” but in each case the spiritual gift is about “being” something. The “captives in his train” are men and women that Christ has liberated from His old enemy the devil who Christ—in His spiritual authority won on the cross in the victory over sin—appoints to be His agents in the world. In other words, if you believe in the liberation (salvation) that Christ has provided by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day, then you are gifted to be something in His missionary force in the world.

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts? The answer is clearly stated in verses 12 and 13. “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.” This is a very careful description of what is meant in Matthew 28:19-20 where Christ commissions His followers to “make disciples” by “going … baptizing [and] teaching them all things.” It is also a statement of what is necessary for the believer to become spiritually mature. If one does not embrace one’s spiritual gift and join in with Christ in His mission in the world, then that person has no hope of attaining real spiritual development in the Christian faith.

Spiritual maturity is defined in the last part of verse 13 as “attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Spiritual maturity is a balanced whole, not hyper zeal in one direction with all of the other dimensions ignored. Spiritual maturity is the full picture of Christ’s message and mission, not unbalanced emphasis on a few points. Of course, it takes time to grow into a full knowledge of the Christian faith and a balanced, wholistic understanding of Christ’s mission. But, if we do not embrace immediately the spiritual gift that Jesus has uniquely appointed to us as individuals and live out that ministry to the fullest, then we have no hope of attaining spiritual maturity.

If you are tempted to ignore the whole business of spiritual gifts because it does not make sense to you or because your life is busy and you think you cannot do more than show up for worship on Sabbath, then Paul has a specific admonition for you in verses 17 and 18: “You must no longer live as the nonbelievers do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” Finding and accepting your spiritual gift is central to your spiritual life, your connection with the Holy Spirit and through Him with Christ and the Father.

It is not an overstatement of the text to summarize Ephesians 4 with the idea that it is through our spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit works in our lives. When people pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and at the same time sit back and ignore the opportunities to find and use their gifts their behavior is frustrating, blocking their prayer. If you want to grow in Christ; if you want the Holy Spirit in your life, then you must begin with identifying and living out your spiritual gifts.

Spiritual Gifts - 1 Corinthians 12

The topic of spiritual gifts is central to being a Christian.  “About spiritual gifts,” Paul writes, “I do not want you to be ignorant.” (Verse 1) He believes that an active relationship with the Holy Spirit is essential to faith in Jesus. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (Verse 3) That is why this is such a foundational thing for you to learn and include in your spiritual life.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different approaches to Christian work, but the same God works through all of them.” (Verses 4-6) Already in the First Century there was conflict among people in the church using different methods. Unfortunately the church today still has the same kind of conflicts, despite the fact that the Bible clearly says in this passage that the Holy Spirit intends for there to be different approaches.

Again, as in Romans 12, Paul illustrates this principle by giving several examples of spiritual gifts—wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, languages—that are all bestowed by the same Holy Spirit. (Verses 7-10) “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each person, just as he determines.” (Verse 11) All these different methods of implementing the grace of Christ in the world are given for the same purpose. “To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (Verse 7) The mission of Jesus in the world is the supreme focus of all truly Christian activities. The Holy Spirit focuses the variety of different approaches toward the central goal that Christ is working to achieve.

Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to explain the unity of a fellowship of Christian believers, a congregation. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one living organism. So it is with Christ.” (Verse 12) He goes on to illustrate how foolish it is for church members to back off or stay away because their gifts do not seem to be needed. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.” (Verse 15) He uses an ear and an eye in verse 16 to repeat his point.

He then describes how absurd it is for some church members to claim that their method or their approach is the one and only true way to follow Jesus. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?” (Verse 17) If you imagine a number of eyeballs rolling into church for worship, you can see that Paul is making a joke here in order to get across the importance of a key spiritual truth. The church needs many different kinds of people with different abilities, interests and approaches because God made it a diverse organism just as He made the human body a wonderfully complex thing that depends on many different kinds of tissues, organs, cells, etc. If you ever feel like you don’t fit in, remember it is God who made you that way. His body needs you precisely because you are different.

“But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (Verse 18) When we look upon another person in the church as odd or unnecessary because of their unique personality or approach to religion, remember we are condemning God’s creative decisions. He made us to be different. He does not intend for us to all be the same. Unity in the church does not equal uniformity of behavior or thought. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” (Verses 21-22) Remember this text the next time someone gets up in church and says, “such-and-such is the real work of the church,” implying that other activities are not really necessary or a waste of time, money and energy.

“God has combined the members of the body … so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” (Verses 24-25) Seventh-day Adventists believe in a holistic approach to the mission of Christ. This includes both evangelism and community service, both outreach and nurture, and both teaching Bible truth and social action to demonstrate the compassion of Christ in practical ways. Christian education is just as important to the mission of Christ as are media ministries and public campaigns, community service centers and health ministries. Those who try to play one o" against the other or claim that their favorite approach deserves a larger piece of the pie than the others are not biblical in their claims.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (Verse 27) Because every believer—including you—has a specific “gift” from the Holy Spirit, each believer—including you—is organically connected with the body of Christ. Together we make up the body of Christ in this place. If each part of the body plays the role that God expects of him or her, then we—together, as a congregation—are able to be fully functional in the mission of Christ.