Follow Your Heart With Something You Love - A Geeks of Faith Devotion on Spiritual Gifts

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved musical theatre.  When I grew up I wanted to be on Broadway.  I loved the singing, the dancing, the acting, and the costumes and make up.  When I felt called into the ministry I wanted to argue with God.  Couldn’t I be a Christian singer like Amy Grant or work for a Christian Theatre Company.  As I felt stronger about God’s call part of me thought that I would have to settle for doing good without using my best talents.

          Part of it may come from a well-meaning, but (in my opinion) mistaken Bible study leader.  We took a “Spiritual gifts inventory” test to determine our Spiritual gifts.  It listed the Spiritual Gifts Paul talks of in First Corinthians 12: Wisdom, Knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of Spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.  It gave you percentages of these gifts and what ones were you best in.  I asked where singing fit in, because I had been singing with the choir since I was in preschool.  His answer was that is a nice service to the church but it isn’t a gift of the Spirit.  That made me sad.  Yes, I had some portions of the things listed in Paul’s letter, but the things that made me happy, the things that gave me joy, and that I felt were my best gifts were apparently NOT gifts of the Spirit.  It hurts when someone tells you what you have to offer isn’t what God wants.

          Then, in Seminary we studied the Theologian Frederick Buechner who said, “Your Vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.”  Which made me wonder, does the world need music, and acting, and Cosplay?”  I was sure that God was calling me to be a minister, and there was great need… But did I have to leave out what gives me joy?  Buechner suggested that I didn’t.

          It was many years later that I found a book on Spiritual gifts that mentioned that Paul wasn’t giving a definitive list.  He was listing gifts he had seen in the Church in Corinth.  That didn’t mean those were the only gifts the Spirit gave.  That book suggested that you look at the 2^nd half of the chapter.   Verses 12-27 say: ¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴ whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵ that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

          Each one of us was specially created in the image of God.  We were each given gifts that are unique to us.  Every good gift can be used for the kingdom.  So, what do you love?  What are your greatest gifts that bring you joy?  Then think about how that gift can fill “the world’s greatest need.”

          Do you love to Cosplay?  How could that fill a need?  I have seen groups dress up as Super Heroes and cartoon characters to visit kids in the hospital.  I would love to find a group to do that.

          Are you a book worm?  Find an elementary school that needs someone to read to the children, or a nursing home where you could read to someone who can no longer see the words on the page.

          If you like to sing, join a church choir or Christmas carol at hospitals and nursing homes or even homeless shelters.

          Are you a gamer?  Volunteer with Big Brothers and big sisters and play games with kids who desperately need love, attention, and good role models.  If you love cooking, volunteer at as soup kitchen or teach kids how to make healthy food.  If you love gardening, start a community garden or contact a charity like the Society of St. Andrews and help glean wasted food to distribute to the hungry.

          Whatever it is that you love to do, that thing that gives you the greatest joy is a gift from God.  God has need for it.  Look around you for where our world has a need that only your gift can fill.