“Research is useful until it becomes a form of procrastination.”—James Clear
A common problem when study spiritual gifts is immobilization—waiting to be “ready”…thinking there is a perfect way to use our gifts or comparing with those whose gifts may be more visible or more developed and then concluding that we have less or nothing to offer. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord gives ALL—each and every—follower of Jesus at least one spiritual gift—empowered by His Spirit—to be used to point back to God Himself and to carry out the Lord’s mission and ministry in the world through His Body, the Church.
Gifts are not meant to be about performance nor competence (although often we find that God enables a level of those things when empowering His humble servants in ministry). The definition of a spiritual gift in Scripture is rooted in two words. Those words are GRACE and HOLY SPIRIT. Our gifts are to be used in humility first, undergirded by a character that is growing to maturity in Christ. All gifts are created equal. There is no hierarchy of gifts.
So don’t get stuck in trying to get all this right or in waiting to know all you think you need to know on the subject of calling and purpose and gifts. As James Clear puts it: “Research is useful until it becomes a form of procrastination."[i]
And, be careful how you measure your “progress”. Remember, life with Jesus is a long obedience in the same direction. You are not stagnant. It is not about accomplishment but about obedience and willingness and perseverance. Clear says: “You're not failing. You're just in the middle of succeeding."[ii] And, “success” is measured very differently by God than by the world. Remember, God is responsible for the outcomes!
Forget the world’s relentless craving for fame, followers, attention. Do the next, often small, thing. As Poet Danielle Doby so eloquently puts it: "When you create a difference in someone's life, you not only impact their life, you impact everyone influenced by them throughout their entire lifetime. No act is ever too small. One by one, this is how to make an ocean rise."[iii]
And in the gaps…in the places where we have an inkling or a sense of a “bigger” calling and purpose…when we envision God’s dream of using us…and yet we live a very different reality, we can absolutely know that we are called to belong to Jesus, to be holy, to be people of love and life and hope and mercy and justice and reconciliation—to live as His person in the present and entrust the unknowns of the future to a faithful God.
As John Mark Comer says in Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger:
“We want to know the future, because knowledge is power. And if we can know the future, then we can have control – or at least feel in control – of the future. Then we don’t have to trust God. But God doesn’t want us to have control; he wants us to have faith. Which is my best take on why God will rarely, if ever, tell you exactly what is going to happen. Instead, he will tell you just enough about tomorrow to show you how to live today. Show you what to focus on. How to gear up and prepare. What choice to make in real time. The kind of person you need to become for whenever it is that your dream comes to pass.
…There’s a phrase all through the library of Scripture that I love: “the appointed time.”
There is an “appointed time” for your dream to turn to reality. When prophecy and providence come together into God’s call on your life.[iv]
So, get out there! Do something! Take what you know of the Lord, what you sense of His calling and purpose for your life, your list of spiritual gifts—given to you by a loving, generous God—and do the next thing. See what God does with that. Remember, the Lord is the One who can take a tiny offering of loaves and fishes and multiply it exponentially.
Additional Resources:
• Downloadable Resources--See Sample List of Interest Areas; Your Spiritual Gifts—A Study Guide; Knowing Your Unique Calling and Purpose Study Guide; Whole-Life Ministry: A Form of Worship, Grace-Giving, and Living into Your Calling.
Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been Equipping Ministries Director at her church since 1999.
© 2022
© Photo by Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.
[i] James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ripples poem, found in I Am Her Tribe, Poet Danielle Doby on the power of small acts
[iv] John Mark Comer, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.