Faithbase

Your gifts day six, the beans or the background. Each of us are gifted with specific abilities and talents and as you can imagine when all of these gifts and talents come together, members of the body of Christ working together, that is when we function the best. This study is designed to introduce you to some of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible and hopefully as you learn more about them you'll be able to identify your own strengths. When we know our gifts and begin using them well, that is when our faith truly opens up and we begin to see a major difference in our hearts and lives and in the lives of those around us. The verse James chapter 3 verses 13 through 18. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from heaven but it's earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. The fill. What's the point? Today's spiritual gift is wisdom. Disclaimer, today's post is not all flowers and warm fuzzies, but y'all it's time to get real. Just remember I'm a mess myself growing alongside you and of course still love you. As I read today's verse, I was moved by the idea of our deeds reflecting our wisdom. Does my life shine the wisdom I've gained as a follower of Jesus? Hmm, not sure I'm gonna like what I see. As followers of Jesus, we seek to understand him better and scripture makes it clear that he will reveal himself to anyone who earnestly seeks him. However, it doesn't end there. With this newfound information, with the wisdom we gain, we must also put it into practice. We are charged with the call of living out this wisdom. We've learned that we are all to love as Jesus loves. We are to be forgiving, honest, fair and humble. So what does it look like to live that out? Well, take posting to social media for instance. When you post, it's important to ask yourself, why am I posting this? If your reasoning is to share an experience with family and friends, if your reasoning is to have a memory of a special event or a moment, post away friend. However, if your rationale behind posting is to prove that you were at an event, to get back at someone who hurt your feelings or to make others jealous of your life, that's not exactly wise. Trust me, I am not innocent of this either. We like to think that the mean bully tendencies leave us when we leave high school, but in reality, they actually get worse. We just get better at justifying our actions as adults. What about arguments with your spouse, children or other family members? Are you shining the light of Jesus that you've gained through wisdom in the faith? Yeah, I'm shrinking down in my chair on this one too. I shared with you last week that you may be the only Bible someone ever opens. We should always be working to shine the light of Jesus, to put into practice the wisdom we gained through time with him. Take a look at yourself in the mirror today. Does anything need to change? Esteem. What does this mean to me and how can I apply it to my life today? To help you identify what your spiritual gifts are, there are several tools and tests you can take for free online. Or to help you begin thinking about it, I encourage you to spend the course of this study reflecting on the following questions. Number one, what do you enjoy? Number two, when you hear about people helping others, do you feel drawn to a specific story? Maybe about children, those living in poverty, racial equality or something else? Ask someone who knows you well. What gifts they see in you? What do they think that you are the best at?