How Can I Discover My Spiritual Gifts?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we’re recording live from Ligonier’s 2023 National Conference, and we’re joined by Reverend Ken Jones. He is the pastor of Glendale Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, Florida. Reverend Jones, how do we discover the spiritual gifts that we have?

REV. KEN JONES: By not taking tests—if anyone has a spiritual gift aptitude test, burn it. You discover your gifts by loving the body and serving the body. As a matter of fact, someone once said—recently I heard this and I think it’s very helpful: “God hasn’t given you spiritual gifts. He’s given the church spiritual gifts through you.” So, you don’t discover a gift of liberality or gift of hospitality with a character assessment. You discover that by paying close attention to one another, as in the spirit of Hebrews 10, paying close attention to one another, or seeing yourself as being connected to someone else so as you see something—can I just give you a quick example? I saw this beautifully displayed.

I had a friend in Southern California, and he had a pretty good job with the state. And he was issued a state car, and every night he would drive that car home. And at one point, he wanted to buy a new car—his wife actually. He bought his wife a brand new, I think it was a BMW or whatever it was. And he was thinking about buying the car, and he thought about it: “I don’t really need a car.” And so what he did is, he decided—now this is him, this is not given as a law—but he went down to the car dealership, looked at the same car that he bought for his wife, found out the price and how much he would’ve put down, found out what his monthly payment would be, and then he decided instead of buying the car, he allocated that car amount—the amount that he would’ve been paying for a car note—that he would every month use that, instead of making a car payment, find a church or a Christian or someone else in need and make that money available to them. Now, that’s a spiritual gift of generosity that can’t be taught. And I think what triggered it for him is, as he was looking to buy a car for himself, he happened to pay attention to people around him.

So, I think the best way you discover your spiritual gifts—because one of the other reasons you don’t want to take a character test is because I don’t think all the spiritual gifts are listed in the Scriptures. We have a tendency to see what’s listed in Scripture and say, “That’s it?” Those were gifts that were made available as needed. I think whatever the church needs at any given time, the Lord gifts or grants, so that that need is fulfilled.

So, if you want to learn what your spiritual gift is, look at your people. Look at the people that are around you, beginning with the local church and also the needs of your neighbors. Pay attention to people—whether it’s in your church, in your community—and you will find how the Lord has uniquely equipped you to glorify Him in that area.