The Apostle Paul's Warning About Spiritual Gifts

“Now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” (KJV) - the apostle Paul

This is how Paul starts out his teaching on the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12:1. Paul uses this “…I would not have you ignorant” phrase very sparingly in his letters to alert his readers that he is about to discuss something of extreme significance. A few of the other times the apostle uses this phrase is in relation to the divine mystery of the election of Israel and when he teaches about the resurrection of believers at the Second Coming of Christ (see Rom. 11:25 and I Thess. 4:13). As you can see, Paul apparently felt that the issue of spiritual gifts was one that every Christian should be particularly informed about.

There are many teachings we can be ignorant about as Christians and it won’t affect our destiny. I suspect there are lots of Christians that don’t have a clue about the ten-horned dragon of Revelation chapter 12. I know Christians who don’t entirely understand the whole “third heaven” experience mentioned in II Corinthians 12:2 and they seem to be doing okay. Who totally understands the doctrine of election or the Trinity for that matter? But there are some teachings in Scripture that will reap serious consequences for us if we don’t gain a proper understanding of them. Spiritual gifts are one of those teachings.

Today, thirty years after teaching on spiritual gifts became popularized, the body of Christ is still woefully uninformed as Christian researcher George Barna pointed out in a recent poll. Of Christians polled, 21% said they had heard of spiritual gifts but didn’t think God had given them one. Out of those who did respond, only 30% named gifts listed in the Bible. Others listed as their spiritual gifts among other things: a sense of humor, being likeable, drawing, and believe it or not, going to church! We’ve got a lot of work to do to get God’s people informed about this teaching.

When you discover your unique spiritual gifts and begin to develop in them, at least four wonderful things will happen for you:

You will discover a major component of God’s will for your life. Well, okay, you still have to sweat through the classic ones like “Who do I marry?” and “Should I take this new job offer?” but you never again struggle with the answer to one of the other big ones, “What does the Lord want me to do in ministry?”
You will see ministry fruit occurring and Kingdom advancement taking place because of God working through you and your gifts.
You will no longer feel intimated by others who can do things in ministry that you can’t do. You will realize that they can do what they do because of God’s grace, that same grace that allows you to do things they can’t duplicate.
You immediately cut years of waste searching for where you “fit” in the ministry of the church. You know where you fit and you know that you are the best person in your circles to perform that ministry function.

I pray we all heed Paul’s advice in I Corinthians 12:1. We cannot afford to be ignorant about our spiritual gifts. Too much is at stake for us personally, for the lives of others that could be touched by our gifts, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Seek to know your gifts today and lean on the promise of our Lord in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks will receive. He that seeks will find, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened.”

Bryan Carraway ministers in churches throughout the body of Christ. More on this topic can be gleaned in his book, Spiritual Gifts: Their Purpose & Power. The book covers in detail 30 spiritual gifts as found in both the Old and New Testaments.