In many churches, it is standard practice to have Christians take some kind of a spiritual gift inventory. Through a series of questions that probe an individual’s interests, passions, and successes, these tests claim to help people discover the ways the Holy Spirit has gifted them to better love and serve his people.
Much has been written about such inventories and many people have expressed a degree of skepticism about their usefulness or accuracy. I have long observed that these resources typically lead people to front-of-the-room service more than less visible forms and that they generally lead people to serve in ways that are within their comfort zone and consistent with their pre-existing desires.
Yet the great majority of Christian love and service happens outside the gaze of the congregation and many of the ways God calls us to serve him contradict our natural desires rather than harmonize with them. God is able and often eager to ask us to do things that are difficult and that push us well outside our natural capacities. Hence we find Moses the stuttering leader and Saul the shy king. We find a host of ministers
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
