Dear Friends,
In the book Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders there is
a quote that caught my attention. Sanders writes, “We naively think that
the more we grow as Christians, the easier it will be to discern the will of
God. But the opposite is often the case. God treats the mature leader as a
mature adult, leaving more and more to his or her spiritual discernment and
giving fewer bits of tangible guidance than in earlier years." (Spiritual
Leadership, Oswald Sanders, p 147.
Sanders words surprised me as I had always assumed that the more
mature you were as a believer, the easier it would be to sense God’s purpose
and direction for your life.
A few days after reading this Sander's' comments, I was sitting
with a friend who was struggling with this same issue. The person was seeking
guidance and direction for her life.
As we talked, we both agreed that it would be a lot easier if God
would send an angel down from heaven who would drop a note in our lap with
explicit directions for the next stage of our life. But as of yet, I have not
heard of this happening to anyone. This being the case, how then does one know
what your next step is in discovering God’s purpose and direction for
your life?
Well, prayer would be the first and most obvious place to
begin. God does reveal direction for us through the important discipline of
prayer. The Psalmist prays, "O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead
me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I
wait all the day long. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the
humble his way” (Psalm 25:4-5).
But what If God's answer is not immediate or not clear? What if,
as Oswald Sanders writes, "God is leaving more and more to (our) spiritual
discernment and giving fewer bits of tangible guidance than we are hoping
for?"
As my friend and I continued talking, I asked her what her gifts
were- both spiritual and natural and what was her passion, that is, what
she would do even if she wasn’t paid for it. I believe that we can often find
God’s purpose for our life (that which we were created for) at the intersection
of our spiritual gifts and our natural talents and our passion and
personality.
I suggested to my friend that she might want to take the Meyers
Briggs personality test, a helpful tool in revealing how one thinks, feels and
acts in normal everyday life. If you are interested in taking a modified
version of this test, just click on www.16personalities.com/
Knowing your spiritual gifts and talents combined with
understanding your passion and your personality traits seem to be a logical
place to help one better understand how God has equipped us to serve Him.
God has created you for a purpose in life. and it wouldn’t seem logical
for God to give us certain gifts and talents and a particular passion and personality
and then direct us to a vocation where none of these would be of any value.
However, having said all this, I remind you that God can override
any of the above qualities and characteristics and place and use us in ways
that seem contrary to our gifts, talents, personalities and passions.
Jeremiah was shy and uncomfortable speaking, but he became a
mighty spokesman and spiritual leader for God, and Gideon was a simple farmer
who acknowledged his significant leadership inadequacies, and yet he rallied an
army to defeat the Midianites and became one of Israel's greatest judges.
Yes, I encourage you to check out your spiritual gifts, natural
talents, passion and personality but be careful to remember, "For as the
heaven is higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts (Is. 55:9 NLB).
The bottom line is that availability is always the greatest
ability one can ever possess, and regardless of our spiritual and natural
limitations, God can and will use us to accomplish His plans and purposes if
only we choose to make ourselves available. So, let's get rid of any of our
excuses for not serving Him and make ourselves available to be used in whatever
way He chooses.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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