Opening Your Spiritual Gifts (Day 1)

[This is the first in a series of twenty-two posts dealing with spiritual gifts. The members of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church, in the Cincinnati suburbs, are reading these as daily devotions for the Advent season.]

Every believer in Jesus Christ has at least one spiritual gift.

I read somewhere about a man who never opened his Christmas presents. Instead, each year, he placed his newest gifts under the tree with past years’ packages, all unopened.

It’s a stupid story. But it’s the story of most Christians. The Bible affirms that God gives all believers in Christ at least one spiritual gift. The apostle Paul puts it this way in First Corinthians:

“God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful...” (First Corinthians 12:4-7, The Message)

Like the man in that story though, most Christians never make the effort to open their spiritual gifts, often because they’re ignorant of them.

Advent is the season of the Church Year that begins this year on December 3. The word advent, from which we get the word adventure, means coming. In this season just before Christmas, we remember the coming of God into our world through Jesus Christ. We remember too, that one day, Christ will come again.

In the meantime, God invites Christians to live an adventure. He calls us to open the spiritual gifts He’s given to us, maximizing our God-given potential and pointing others to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Every believer in Jesus Christ has at least one spiritual gift.

Bible Passage to Ponder: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit...” (First Corinthians 12:7, New Revised Standard Version)