The Next Level: Spiritual Gifts

I think we might've gotten some ideas partly right and partly wrong in our heads. When it comes to spiritual gifts, I've begun to wonder if these "gifts" are a different concept than what I used to believe.

I used to think a spiritual gift was something that you had, all along, from the beginning of your life. I thought it was a thing that was built into what you are as a person, and that when you discovered what it was, then you could start serving God for real. Maybe that's true.

I think there are things that God builds into us right from the start (Psalm 139:13). I also think that God likes versatility, instead of making people who have just one specific purpose (1 Corinthians 12:6). God also wants the different purposes to be coordinated so that everybody does something that helps, instead of creating disorder (1 Corinthians 12:18-20). But I used to think that spiritual gifts were these things that were built into me from the get-go, and that what I had to work with was all I had.

That made me wonder "Where did God put all those spiritual gifts and talents for me?" I wondered where I could find them.

That's when an idea struck me. If you've played video games, then you're familiar with "Level ups" or "Power ups" that can come during the game, or after you complete certain sections of a game. No game designer would let you begin the game with those power ups because it would be too easy. It might even be boring.

I think that God has a similar thing going on. I believe that what a person experiences helps to determine his or her spiritual gifts. At the end of that experience, I think that sometimes God gives out a "level up" or a "power up" to a person. Maybe we do start life with certain spiritual gifts, but I'm beginning to believe that God is continuously at work within each of us, adding on new upgrades, adding new gifts and talents, and building us up so that as we pass through one stage in life, we get ready for the next.

Does God let us choose which path we take in life? If he does, then maybe all we have to do to get a specific spiritual gift is to "sign up" for it!