When I talked about this some of you said you would like to see what some of these trace backs where. So here it is.Click to enlarge
Some may agree with this list others may not. It is a good start point for a discussion. I feel that with this list whether you run into the positive or negative side of a gift it will help you discern the gifts of God within a person and give you a path to cultivating a relationship with God through this person. Additionally it might be very revealing to see some traits of your own on the misuse side and see which of your gifts needs to be surrendered back to their original purpose.
Navigate the splinters and the logs.
Reference:
Luke 6
42: How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,' while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
How do you keep your gift from crossing over to the dark side?
ReplyDeleteI submit by realizing each gift is not an end unto itself but rather a tool to be used along with a whole community of brethren each having their gifts and all gifts are for the purpose of building the kingdom of God. This will help you realize your gift in the whole scheme instead of scoped down to how it benefits just yourself. This knowledge will help you to temper the use of your gift and when to reign it back.
It is good to remember that each gift of the spirit and talent given us are just that a GIFT and we are stewards of that gift not owners of it. Like the talents left to the servants we grow our gifts for the Lords use and return it to him with interest and an accounting.
This also helps me to remember that spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Spirit as He issues assignments- and they aren't necessarily permanent. Leaning on a gift and not a prayerful relationship with the Trinity can result in a gift "going bad." Spiritual gifts are exciting tools, but the Corinthians demonstrated that focusing on them opposed to the assignment at hand is disfunctional.
ReplyDeleteBless them- without their errors, Paul would not have written the letters that still educate the church. Just another example of God using people's bad choices to show His glory.
Amen
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