Gifts

             Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (I Corinthians 12:17)

Among born again adults, the percentage that say they have heard of spiritual gifts but do not believe God has given them one jumped from 4% in 1995 to 21% in 2000. The number who say they are not sure if they have a gift, or what it might be, has declined slightly, from 28% five years ago to 20% today. (Awareness of Spiritual Gifts Is Changing - Barna Group)

Some of the theme of the last week has been to find Scriptures that are tied to specific “parts” of a person. One of those parts is our relationships. I’ve shared verses about loving and praying for our enemies, and loving one another often enough, but today, let’s approach it from an area that sometimes causes us anxiety.

We read the Bible and discover that we’re supposed to have gifts. Oh boy! Where is it? Being gifted will be so cool. Gifted people matter. They’re admired. And if it’s a manifestation of the Spirit, it has to be spectacular! And we look in the mirror, behind the refrigerator, under the sofa, and in the attic, basement, and garage, but everything looks the same. No gifts. No one applauding us or telling us we’re special. What’s up with that? I guess I’m the exception to the rule. I don’t have a gift, or at least I don’t know what it is, so there’s nothing else I can do but stand and watch. According to the Barna group, as much as 41% of born-again Christians don’t believe God has given them a gift, or don’t know what it is.

I’ve taken the assessments, and I’m still not sure. But I suspect at least part of the problem is that we’re looking at our relationship with the Church and with the gifts in the wrong way. We’re looking for something impressive and supernatural. What if the gifts are - at least often – less than spectacular? The disciples didn’t perform miracles their fist day they knew Jesus. Today’s verse tells us something about the manifestations of the Spirits. They are given for the common good.

By the time we get into the next chapter, we’re told that the greatest of these is love. We’re commanded to love. So what if the manifestation of the Spirit in our lives begins with something as boring as “showing up”? What if your gift, or mine, is just something we can do, or can learn to do, like making coffee, holding a door open, filling the communion plates and cups, or going out during the service and cleaning snow off of windshields? What if, before you get to do something “worthy,” you have to spend a hundred hours talking to other people in your congregation? Or getting to the point where you know the names of 10% of the people who attend? What if, in order to cross your Jordan River and enter the Promised Land, you have to pick up your Ark of the Covenant (whatever that is for you) and carry it far enough into your flooded Jordan River far enough that you get your feet wet?

And this is where I find myself today. On the one hand, I want to be gifted. I want to matter. On the other hand, I want to be invisible. I want to avoid paying the cost and taking responsibility, especially if those involve denying what I believe about myself (both good and bad.) The problem with this two-handed situation is the second-hand. If gifts are for the common good, then I have to will and do good to those who are in common-unity. They need to become important, not just there. In other words, if we want to use our gifts, we have to work and be involved with others. That’s what and who the gifts are for - not us.