In today’s episode, the guys discuss spiritual gifts and how to discover yours. The Lord gives us gifts that are imperishable and irrevocable for the purpose of His kingdom. Our culture is enamored with the whole theme of purpose, but very few things indicate greater purpose than when God gives something. He gives us spiritual gifts for and with a purpose because He wants us to be a part of His epic story. He has created each one of us uniquely with His gifts for a specific role. God saves us and gives us a commission and the tools to go and complete that commission. One of the least American ideas about Christianity is that your life is not yours. Our spiritual gifts are given to us so that we can serve others. There are no unemployed Christians–everyone has a role and needs to be an active participant in the church. When we aren’t active with the gifts that God has given us, we stifle our spiritual growth and joy.

Next, the guys talk about how we need to use our spiritual gifts. They start off talking about how author Juan Sanchez says we may be asking the wrong question. Identifying our spiritual gifts might limit how, when, and where we serve. The better question is: how can I best serve the people around me? Sometimes, if we believe that we don’t have a certain gift, then we won’t use our abilities to play our part. We should not find identity in the gift, but our identity is in being a child of God. Also, we mistake our spiritual gifts for our fruitfulness. Just because you are good at your gifts, doesn’t mean you’re growing in the Lord. The Lord gives us these gifts because He wants us to use them in a specific way. The use of our gifts should be shining His light for His honor, not for ourselves or our glory.

Finally, the guys discuss how to identify your spiritual gifts, and they first say you need to understand your own gifts in the context of the local church. There, you can exercise your gifts and try new things, and then receive affirmation on what your spiritual gifts are from preachers, family, and friends. We must not be selfish with our spiritual gifts or jealous of each other. We must be thankful knowing that God knows us and created us for this specific time in history, and to own the role that we get to play in His story. A question to ask yourself is: how can you be prideful of what someone gave you? Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Light. We are birthed into the Body of Christ and need to be in community with others. You will see fruit and results by operating that gift. There will be challenges in the fruits of using your gifts, but we will also find pleasure in them too. Some of the spiritual gifts the Bible talks about include prophesy or “speaking forth,” ministry or servants of any kind, teaching, exhortation, giving, and leading. Lastly, God does not need us, but He invites us to work with Him because He loves us and wants us to participate in His good work. We can play a role and be on the front lines of His glory in using our spiritual gifts for His purpose.