What is Your S.H.A.P.E.? Part 2

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Growing up, I was spoiled and I will admit it. Packages would spill out from all sides of our Christmas tree and a lot of them had my name on them! It was so much fun opening those gifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. I loved getting gifts!

Now, stop judging me, don’t we all like to get a gift once and a while? And now that I have grown up, I love giving gifts more than I do receiving them. Isn’t it a blast to watch someone’s face as they open a gift you have painstakingly picked out? Just like we like giving gifts, God likes giving gifts too.

God gives the best gifts. In Psalm 139:4, David writes these words, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. God’s greatest creation is man. The Bible tells us in Genesis that we are made in His image. Life is a gift.

He did not stop there. He allowed His one and only Son to die for us so we could spend life eternal with Him! Wow, how awesome is that! If that was the last gift He gave us, it would be more than we deserve. But wait, He doesn’t stop there! He gives us spiritual gifts too.

The “S” in S.H.A.P.E stands for spiritual gifts. I am using the book S.H.A.P.E.: Finding And Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose For Life by Erik Rees as my main source of reference for this and the following posts in this series.

Mr. Rees clarifies some misconceptions about spiritual gifts. He states they are not the same as “personality traits”, “natural talents” or the “fruit of the Spirit.” Instead, he defines spiritual gifts as “a God-given special ability, given to every believer at conversion by the Holy Spirit, to share his love and strengthen the body of Christ. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:10 that God is the gift giver: ‘God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you’” (NLT).

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:7, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.” (NLT). These gifts that God gives are not about you and they are not for you. They are to be used to bless the body of Christ. If you have accepted Christ as the leader of your life, you have received a gift from the Holy Spirit. Look at the words of Paul, “Each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that” (1 Corinthians 7:7 TNIV).

You may asking, “How do I discover my spiritual gift? That is a great question! Here are a couple of free online assessments that you can take to help you identify your gift…
Spiritualgiftstest and Gifted2Serve.

Now that you are aware of the value of spiritual gifts and have an a picture of your gift(s); it is time to put that gift into action! I would encourage you to contact a Pastor from your church, make him/her aware of your gift set, and see what ministry is a good fit. Then, start fulfilling your role as a blessing to your local church body!

If you would like to be coached through this process, feel free to me here.

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