A common belief among many Christians is that God has a plan for their lives and has endowed them with certain gifts of the Spirit to carry it out. This thinking leaves them wondering what the plan is and what gifts might be theirs. The assumption seems to be that the unknown plan must be something special and quite unlike their ordinary daily lives. It’s their responsibility to discover what it is and failure to do so will jeopardize their standing in God’s favor. In like manner, there has to be some personality inventory-type instrument that will reveal the hidden Gifts of the Spirit with failure to discover and use them, equally offensive to God.
Would that they were not such common beliefs. God’s plan, and there is one, is for the redemption of the world: that is to say, for the redemption of humankind and all of creation. To put it another way, it’s for peoples, not persons. True, from time to time God called and appointed persons to undertake certain tasks or fill certain offices, but for most people, God’s plan for their lives is made clear in the words of the prophets, the letters of the apostles, and most important, through the words and deeds of Jesus. It is a plan for all to live into, not Google Maps directions for how to get to heaven. For those who will accept it while relinquishing an exact plan to be followed, God will participate in one’s life to open ways for God’s will to be done through the ordinary ways of engaging in daily life, wherever they may lead.
As for Gifts of the Spirit, St. Paul offered two lists in his first letter to the church in Corinth, Chapter 12, and in the letter to the church in Ephesus, Chapter 4. He never intended them to be comprehensive, just samplers of the many capabilities each person has that can be used to do God’s work. To put it another way, each person has knowledge and skills they use in ordinary daily life that can be used to demonstrate the nearness of the kingdom of God, to reflect a glimmer of the light of Christ that shines into the lives of others. No one has to search for their gifts. They already have them. The point Paul tried to make is that no one has all of them, most have only one or two, and no gift is more important than any other.
The more important point is that the talents of each are to be shared together for the common good, and the building up of the body of Christ, the church. There is room for individual excellence but no room for libertarian individualism. Gifts not used for the common good are misused. Moreover, building up the church is less about strengthening existing congregations than it is about nudging society in a godly direction. As William Temple said, the church is an institution that exists for the benefit of those outside the church.
The measure of success is whether one used his or her talents in Faith, Hope, and Charity (1 Cor. 12). By faith, he meant to believe in and trust God no matter what happens. Hope is the sure and certain knowledge that what God has promised, God will do, that our part in making it happen may be small, and that God’s timing for how and when things work out is not our problem. Charity is the hardest of all for many of us, me included; it is to do all things in generous deeds and love, respecting the dignity of every human being without distinction. Thankfully, God knows our limitations and does not expect perfection but to do the best we can.
Well said and gratefully received. Thank you.