Balancing Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Habits
We have been looking at spiritual gifts in recent posts and this is the third instalment. We have journeyed with this topic so that you might explore where you should be serving in ministry based on your gifting rather than personal interest. Before we continue with part III, how has that journey been for you? Have you come to any insights about how you are gifted to build the Church? In this journey have you discovered more about where you are not gifted? I encourage you to experiment with a variety of ministries so that you continue your journey with spiritual gifts.
This week I wish to explore the balancing act of spiritual gifts and spiritual habits. Spiritual gifts, as mentioned previously, are not just talents, skills or interests. Spiritual gifts are specific gifts given to you by the Holy Spirit so that you can build the Church in a unique way. You may discover people with similar gifting in your ministry, however you will need to gather people with different gifting in order for your ministry to really fire. For example someone with a leadership gift may need to find people with the gifts of service, administration and evangelism in order to make their ministry grow, not just survive.
In contrast to spiritual gifts which are specific to you, there are spiritual habits or practices that every Christian is called to. These are habits or practices that every person needs to undertake in order to come closer to God and to become more like Christ. In our discipleship journey with Jesus, we all need to take on the habits of a disciple. If we look at the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) we can see a few spiritual habits that Jesus calls all disciples to:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Being a disciple in the Great commission means being baptised, most of us can tick that box. However in the text we read that there is more to discipleship than baptism, so here is a list of some spiritual habits that all disciples are called to work on:
Formation: In the Great commission, Jesus calls his disciples to teach and learn everything he taught. We have to take on the spiritual habits of a learner, how willing are you to learn about your faith? Who are your teachers? What are the voices that you allow to speak into your life?
Prayer: Prayer is our communication with God. Some people have the spiritual gift of intercessory prayer, yet all of us are to communicate with God. We know that in Matthew 6:5-15 Jesus taught His disciples to pray so that they could communicate with His Father in heaven. Jesus gave this prayer to everyone and is know today as the “Our Father”. This is an important prayer and the Holy Spirit has revealed many other forms of prayer to our Church. Prayer should be a spiritual habit that we develop in a variety of forms, so we should Talk to God, Thank God, Ask things of God and Listen to God in prayer
Gathering with Believers: recently I heard a young person say that they can follow God without coming to Church. Yet it is very clear throughout history that Catholic’s need to gather with other believers as a spiritual habit. St Paul reminds the early Christian community of this spiritual habit in Hebrews 10:24-26 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.”
Sharing your faith: In the Great Commission Jesus tells His disciples to go make other disciples. This is the spiritual habit of sharing your faith. Whilst there is a specific gift for evangelism given to certain people who excel in this area, all Catholic’s are called to evangelise or share our faith even if we find it difficult. We all have to develop the spiritual practice of sharing our faith, we don’t just leave it to those with a spiritual gift of evangelism.
This is not a complete list of spiritual habits but it is a start. If you can work on these you will be on the right path to being more like Christ. I would love for you to post a comment about other Spiritual Habits that you try to develop. I would also love to hear about how you are exploring your spiritual gifts.
Mark McDonald
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