‘Gifted’ or GRACED to SERVE?
Believer, G-d has GIFTED you with His Spirit and GRACED you with a divine mission!
When I first became a ‘believer’, I was unsure about what exactly to BELIEVE. Just as the word ‘follower’ is a bit ambiguous as well, I wasn’t following very well either!
SINCERE DEVOTION to G-d’s Word AND to G-d’s People is what was missing during those years of my youth and young adulthood. One thing always confused me though. It was this concept called ‘spiritual gifts’.
I saw these ‘spiritual gifts’ being almost paraded about, with a great sense of pride at possessing a particular ‘gift’. All attention was directed to the ‘GIFTED’ one. It didn’t feel right. And plus, I thought, ‘Why on earth would G-d use me? Someone who had messed up so much? I’m out, I guess! Too much to learn (I was right about that!) Ya need to have NOT done the kind of things I did, I guess, to ‘receive a gifting!’
Wrong.
What I did not experience much of, however, was CHESED and EMET – ‘lovingkindness and truth’ – amongst the people of G-d that unmistakably and gloriously brought them together AS ONE. That confounded me! Sometimes I felt like ‘are these people reading the same Book I’m reading?’
Rather than focusing on the misleading phraseology of ‘spiritual giftedness’, we NEED to focus on THE GIFT of the Holy Spirit Who graces us to show CHESED and EMET to mankind.
However, we will need to look at the GREEK TEXT in order to see what I am espousing.
A simple word study will REVEAL that the CORRECT translation of the word ‘gift’ is always talking about The Holy Spirit! HE IS THE GIFT!
When it comes to what we have mistakenly understood as ‘spiritual gifts’, the accurate translation ought to be ‘DIVINE GRACES’.
The problem with translating these graces as ‘gifts’ or ‘spiritual gifts’ is that we immature followers are quick to forget THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT who has ‘graced’ us to serve in holiness. After all, that requires our submission and humbling ourselves under His Power.
In our immaturity, we can mistake a human talent for demonstration of His Power. We do it all the time. ‘It doesn’t make us bad…it makes us human’. We enjoy ‘the praise of men’ too much. That is, until HE exposes us, revealing our error, and liberating us from its bondage in order to serve by His Power Alone.
Let us not confuse our human talents with a demonstration of G-d’s Holy Spirit. HE doesn’t.
The Greek word that Paul uses to describe these differing graces is ‘charismata’. It means ‘a Divine Grace to DO something pleasant and to SHOW favor’. It is an otherworldly empowerment RECEIVED through humbling oneself under The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).
Romans 12:6 – NAS – Since we have gifts (charismata – Strongs #5486) that differ according to the grace (charis – Strongs #5485) given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
Romans 12:6 – WH – εχοντες (5723) δε χαρισματα κατα την χαριν την δοθεισαν (5685) ημιν διαφορα ειτε προφητειαν κατα την αναλογιαν της πιστεως
I hope this clears up some confusion you may be having if you feel like G-d skipped out on you with ‘spiritual giftedness’! HE didn’t.
HE IS THE GIFT.
So, how has THE GIFT of the G-d’s Holy Spirit graced you, Believer, to show mankind His incredible favor and overwhelming forgiveness to others?
