June 10: What about the testing?

Did you try the spiritual gift inventory? As research, Jana tried 5 different online tests and they all recognized the same gifts in her. She's high on the administration gift (who gets all forms and money?) and low on music.

Not all the inventories ask about every possible gift. Some come up with gifts you may not have considered. Each of us is unique in the gifts that God has given us. Let's see what Paul says about this...

Romans 12:4-8 (The Message)

^4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

If Mike had written this part of Romans, he would have used band as an analogy. A band sounds its best when it has the right mix of instruments in it and it is carefully following the conductor. Too many percussion and not enough French horns and it doesn't sound as good as it could. And, even when properly balanced, if one person decides they don't need to follow the conductor's instructions exactly, it can throw off the entire performance.

Sometimes our gifts aren't obvious as others'. Sometimes they seem less beneficial (or even harmful) to the good of the group. God has a plan for you even though you may not be able to figure out what He could possibly do with your gifts.

Let me illustrate with another band story (sorry, but it's how I think). When I was teaching middle school band in Wisconsin, there was a girl (we'll call her Jennifer) who wanted to learn to play the clarinet. Jennifer's problem was that she was starting two years after her classmates. She was very enthusiastic and promised to work very hard to get caught up.

I invested a great deal of time in trying to help her advance, but she had a few slight problems.....she didn't practice, she was not at all naturally musically gifted, she didn't practice, and I'm not so sure she was the sharpest note in the chord. It didn't take very long for me to realize that she would never be caught up because she was progressing more slowly than her classmates. In spite of this, she kept coming in before and after school wanting extra lessons! I found myself dreading seeing her. I never felt like I could turn her away, but I felt that my time could be spent more effectively with someone else.

I learned a valuable lesson that February during our pizza sale. Students at this school participated in our annual fundraiser to help provide funds for the band program. Unlike many fundraisers (especially at the high school level) the students didn't receive any individual benefit from them (cheap incentive prizes aside). Most kids sold around 50 bucks worth of stuff, a few were in the 1-200 range. That year, Jennifer sold over $1400 worth of frozen pizzas!

I would like to say that she stopped coming in for so many lessons or that the work paid off and she became an amazing clarinetist, but it wouldn't be true. However, I will never forget what she taught me: you never know what particular gifts someone has or when they will emerge.

In fact, I think this story illustrates 4 things about spiritual gifts:

1. It may take us a while for us to figure out what our gifts are.
2. Our gifts may be in an area completely different than where we hoped they would be.
3. Our gifts may seem less spectacular than we hoped they would be.
4. We shouldn't judge others, they are probably working on 1-3 as well.