The God of the Spirits of all Humankind- the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts

When I was a young(er) Christian, I was introduced to the idea of spiritual gifts. I was so excited- God, through the Spirit, gave me a gift that uniquely fit me. Given my battles with accepting uniqueness (see yesterday's post), it was neat to know that I could grab my spiritual gift and charge into the life God had for me. And so I took "the test." For those who don't know, there are multiple tests out there to see what one's spiritual gifting might be. And I took mine and found my top 3 spiritual gifts. And guess what? Nothing happened. I think that there are many people who learned a lot about themselves and about God through spiritual gift tests. But there is a reason I have never pushed for them in our church- I don't necessarily think they reflect the Biblical reality of the Holy Spirit. When I read back over Joshua's story in Numbers 27, God lifts Joshua up because the Spirit is in him. Everything else- the leadership, the authority, the blessing of Moses, comes later. God does not lift Joshua up because he is a leader, God makes Joshua a leader because God chose him to be a leader. I think that we find our spiritual gifting not through standardized tests, but through participation in God's mission. It is when we take our steps of faith and commit ourselves to God's purposes for the world that we find our gifting. And our gifting is not permanent. Indeed, there is nowhere that indicates that God gives gifts once for all. In fact, they seem to be given in the moment. Some gifts may hold on, but others happen because the Spirit is doing something that we are unable to do. This tells me something. One, it tells me that God created a Church because of the mission, not created a mission for the Church. God raises up leaders, raises up disciples, raises up a community because God has a plan for this earth that is greater than the track we are currently following. God did not call a group and then give us busy work. And so when we are actively engaged in the mission, God equips us as we walk. One of my favorite Cornel West quotes describes faith as taking a step onto nothing, hoping to land on something. That "nothing" is the mission, the mystery of how we are going to do greater things than Jesus Christ. The second thing this passage tells me is that I ought to be pushing myself to take risks. After all, if I am fully capable with my natural skills to do everything I am currently doing, then what do I need God for? So why do you need spiritual gifting today? What is God calling you to do that is beyond your current skills? In that, you may just find your spiritual gift.