Giftedness

“How did you discover YOUR gift,” the student asked me in class today?

In my lecture I made the comment that in finding their niche in ministry they need to match their calling with their giftedness. My standard speech is, “If God has given you the gift of administration, don’t try to be an evangelist. If He has given you the gift of a teacher that doesn’t make you qualified to be a pastor. People get frustrated in their service for Christ because they are trying to do things they are not gifted to do.”

I’m not sure when I knew my niche was in teaching? I suppose it was when I was pastoring my first church in Texas. The most enjoyable facets of being a pastor was when I teaching. That love for teaching carried on through my time in Kenya, discipling others informally, which eventually led me to establish a Bible institute.

In the process of learning ones gift, you invariably learn the areas where you are NOT gifted. It was at that time I realized my gift was not in being a pastor and I wasn’t a very good preacher. I have also learned over the years that I’m weak in administration. It’s as important to know what you are not good at as to know what you are gifted in doing.

Having a desire to serve doesn’t override giftedness. I’d love to be able to sing, but those who have heard me sing, and that is a very few people, know my inability to carry a tune in a sack overrules my aspirations. One may desire to be a missionary, but that doesn’t mean they are gifted to live overseas. I’m not sure that I buy into the well-worn phrase that “What God is looking for is not ability but availability.” I’m available to belt out a song, but no one is inviting me to sing in the choir. Giftedness MUST be coupled with calling.

Finding your giftedness is a process. Some learn their role in life early. For others, probably for most of us, the discovery of what we are really good at is through a period of trial and error. If you don’t try to teach you’ll never know if you are any good at it. If you don’t try to live overseas you will never know if you are cut out to do it. The problem comes when you discover your don’t have those gifts, will you acknowledge it and find something you are good at? Life is too short to continue to try to make your square gift fit into an occupational round hole.