This morning ladylighthouse asked on Twitter:

Anyone have any positives or negatives regarding spiritual gifts tests???

I gave a reply that pointed out that First Corinthians 12:11 indicates that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts and its not about you now and forever, but about Him and His timing.  This got me thinking about how my theology has drifted from “Spiritual Gift” oriented theology to “Spirit Directed” theology.  One looks for the Holy Spirit to work in my life in one particular area, the other says, “My life is yours: take it and run.”  One is focused on one aspect of the relationship that the believer has with Christ and the other is focused on the entire life of growth that comes from moment-by-moment relationship with God.

There are a few key passages that lead me to think that Paul’s references to Spiritual Gifts were given for specific knowledge on a specific topic, but were not for us to take as the primary focus of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.  The passages include Galatians 5:22-23 (the Fruits of the Spirit), 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:1-16, and Colossians 3:1-3.  This list is hardly exhaustive, but the verses mentioned each have an element of relationship that is critical for us to take into account in the context of Spiritual Gifts.  In other words, we don’t discount the spiritual gifts, but we don’t focus on them alone.

Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22-23 is often referred to as the fruits of the Spirit passage.  Interestingly this is not exhaustive.  It is a brief summary of some basic characteristics that should reflect the life of Christ in you, but it is not an entire list.  God’s character is infinitely good and is reflected in many ways, as His life pours out of you, you should be blown away by the extremely long list that is proven beyond this list.  The Holy Spirit, who is guiding the believer in a moment by moment walk empowers the believer unto righteousness.  The only way Ephesians 2:10 can be fulfilled is if we are abiding in the Holy Spirit’s direction and are living out the many fruits of the Spirit.  This relationship aspect to righteousness is exactly why we can defeat sin in our daily lives.

II Corinthians 3:18

This passage has had my attention for a little over a year now I think.  It has been quite refreshing to study this passage and each time see an element of Christ and His work that I somehow missed before.  The nature of the mirror is to reflect Christ, and we’re looking at what we’re becoming.  Not at what we are, but what we’re becoming.  The mirror shows us who we are in Christ.  The beholding of the Lord is part of our spiritual growth and the Holy Spirit moves in us to cause that growth.  The growth comes from what is already true of us in Christ being shown to us.  We grow because we reckon those things true (See all of Romans 6 for the concept of reckoning and its impact on our daily life).

Romans 12:1-16

By the mercies of God we do all of Romans 12.  As a logical result of His mercy we respond to Him by listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit causes us to do a tremendously long list of things that are not a Law, but instead reflective of a lifestyle.  The Holy Spirit moves in the life of the believer and causes a radical response that includes gifts (vs 6-8), but is very practical for a daily walk that meets the needs of 1) our vertical relationship with the Lord, 2) our horizontal relationship with other believers and 3) our relationship with the world.  As someone in my Tuesday night Bible Study put it: its like a layered snowball that builds on the previous layer.

Colossians 3:1-3

The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ and the Father (John 16:13-14).  Colossians 3 reminds us of our heavenly position.  We are now seated in the heavenlies with Christ.  We are now to be setting our mind on things above where our life is.  The Holy Spirit, as we walk in relationship with Him, will be drawing our attention to our heavenly association and position.  Our condition, the situation in which we live, is to be viewed from a heavenly seat where we’re hidden with Christ.  We don’t see the trial as a meaningless something, but instead as an instrument the Lord is graciously using for our growth.

Conclusion

If we think about the Holy Spirit only working in us through a gift, we come up short.  If we think that we’re only going to be used in a finite manner instead of in a daily walk, we’ll be disappointed by our walk.  If, however, we embrace the concept of moment by moment relationship, the idea that the Lord uses the Holy Spirit in our life to bring about our sanctification, and we realize that we’re right now in the heavenly places and that the Holy Spirit draws us to that realization: we’re going to be more than conquerors.  We’re going to be more than just people who have a spiritual gift, we’re going to be people who change the lives of those around us.  I live that a lot, not because of me, but because of Him in my life: powerfully.