This past week, my friend invited me to attend youth group with her. Her youth group was doing a special youth group night during which we would be learning more about our spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts had already been something that was on my mind because last Sunday I attended a church in the mountains and during the sermon, the pastor had mentioned checking out Gelatins 5 which makes the distinction between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit.
So my question that I had that night was what is the difference between the fruits of the spirit and spiritual gifts. At my friend's youth group, I learned that spiritual fruit is “a result of what God is doing in and through your life.” Some examples the pastor gave were that you can become more loving or more patient. Your spiritual gifts are what are given to you when you become mature in the body of christ and truly are taking up the cross and following Jesus.
The first truth about spiritual gifts was hard for me to accept, “Only believers have spiritual gifts.” Which overall it makes sense because if you do not believe in the Holy Spirit how could you be given a gift by the Holy Spirit. I still think that God gives gifts to those who don’t follow him because he is in them even when they have not yet decided to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Regardless it is important to know that when you are given a gift by the spirit, that gift is given so that you may use it to glorify God.
Next we were all asked to take a 135 question test that would determine what our top spiritual gifts were once we added our scores across on the scantron. The letters that had the highest score next to them then correlated to a spiritual gift in the booklet. This confirmed that what it is that you truly care about can be how God is calling you to use your gifts whether in or outside the church. During the session, we were also reminded that no one's gifts were more important or higher than another person gifts. The pastor used the imagery of the body of Christ and how it can’t work the same if it is missing one part. Each person has a gift that is much needed no matter what it may be.
What Spiritual gifts has God given you? These gifts are different from talents or qualifications. These gifts have been revealed to you when you became a follower of Christ who has decided to take up the cross and follow Jesus knowing what he is willing to do, willing to die, die on the cross so that our sins may be forgiven.
