What Are Your Spiritual Gifts?

When you hear the phrase “spiritual gifts,” what do you think about? If you asked me this question just mere months ago, I probably would have asked you what talents you possessed and how you were using those for His kingdom. However, my husband and I recently attended our new home church’s membership classes, and I was pleasantly surprised on how they incorporated spiritual gifts into the teaching.

The class focused on how the knowledge of your unique spiritual gifts can show you where in the church you would be best suited to minister and serve. Of course, we are called to serve no matter what, but I appreciated the attention to personality and gifting as I do think this is vital to success in service. We reviewed Biblical references to spiritual gifting, and then took a spiritual gifts quiz which then showed you which spiritual gifts you possessed.

I found a few similar spiritual gifting quizzes online – the identical one to the one we took, plus a few others here and here.  I encourage you to take one of those for the following reason:

Defining my spiritual gifts showed me that what I do on a regular, everyday basis does make an eternal difference.

My higher scores were on administration, discernment, and mercy. Each gift has a related Bible verse and other gifts include giving, discipleship, teaching, faith, leadership, etc. What really resonated with me was that I never considered these particular characteristics as spiritual gifts….but I love it! What I considered as “personality traits” or “talents” are actually gifts from the Holy Spirit to assist me in loving and serving others as Jesus desires for me to do.

I’m not sure if you can relate, but oftentimes I tend to discount what I do for God on a daily basis as insignificant or not “big” enough; yet for some reason, this thought about my spiritual gifting, specifically “mercy” made me pause and reflect. You see, I do believe God uses us all in many different ways to further His kingdom — I didn’t score high on the preaching/speaking gift, but that’s ok, because I am able to show mercy to those who may have never received it before.

The best part? I have a job that offers me the opportunity to use my spiritual gifting of mercy on a regular basis. As a nurse, it’s easy to get caught up sometimes in the tasks required, the hustle, the stress — and it’s even easier to discount what you’re doing as “just the nurse.” Seeing that one of my God-given spiritual gifts was mercy was a revelation. It brings even more purpose and significance into my chosen occupation.

I wonder what your gifts are? Once you know, I hope you can see how much God is able to use those gifts in little ways you would never expect. Just like our physical traits set us apart from one another, so do our spirtual gifts — they make us unique, yet they should also help unite us as Christians as we strive to work together to show the world His grace and love.