The Diversity of Gifts in Christ’s Body Invites Us to Embrace Humility
I pray that my ministry might have a fraction of the impact that Joe’s has. I’ve lost track of how many times a conversation with Joe has helped me out of a spiritual wasteland, and I know many people who would say the same, which is why I was so shocked to hear Joe’s personal reflection on Jesus’s parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30).
In the parable of the talents Jesus calls us to be faithful with whatever gifts the Father gives us, whether great or small. Joe was leading a group of us through a reflection on this passage when he confided something that has stuck with me as much as anything else he’s said. Joe shared that he often struggled with feeling like he was given few talents to work with.
I could hardly believe it. Joe? Few talents?! I couldn’t think of anyone whose spiritual gifts had impacted me more. He was the kind of person I aspired to be! If he was given few talents, I thought, the rest of us are in trouble.
If you knew Joe, you would know his statement was not one of false humility. He truly felt that he had fewer gifts to offer up to God and others. And to be fair, he probably did rub shoulders with some spiritual giants that I’ve only encountered in books. But still, none of these giants could do for me through their books what a conversation with Joe could.
Perhaps there’s a connection between Joe’s impact and his view of his gifts. Maybe God really does choose the foolish and weak things of the world to shame the wise and strong (1 Cor. 1:27).
Regardless of how gifted we think we are, the diversity of gifts within the body of Christ is an opportunity for us to embrace humility. This is one of the blessings of Christ’s body as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 12:18–23a:
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor . . .
How does this image of gifts in Christ’s body lead us towards humility? Allow me to suggest four ways.
Receive your gifts. When you were filled with God’s Spirit, he gifted you for the good works to which he has called you. While none of us have all the gifts of the Spirit, we all have some. True humility doesn’t deny that we have gifts—to do so would claim that we know better than God, for he created us and bestowed the gifts as he saw fit.
Instead, true humility leads us to receive our gifts for the grace that they are, intended to bless both us and others. Humility leads us to surrender to God’s calling on our lives and be ready to serve those he puts in our paths. Our gifts can remind us that life is about more than us and that God has a plan greater than ours.
Recall where your gifts come from. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Apart from the generosity of the Father, none of us would enjoy the gifts we have. To take pride in our gifts is silly because we didn’t do anything to earn them—they are gifts.
We easily can believe the lie that our gifts come from our own hard work and discipline. Certainly God does hone our gifts through these things, but they aren’t the source of our gifts. It is only because God has made us and re-made us in the image of Christ that we have any gifts. Our gifts ought to serve as a reminder that we are dependent on the great Giver.
Remember your dependency on the gifts of others. There are so many gifts that we do not have. As Paul admonishes the Corinthians with his metaphor, we each are like different body parts relying on one another to be whole. Our gifts only have their full impact when working in tandem with gifts that we don’t have. What good is a foot if there is no eye to guide its movement?
Additionally, there usually are people more gifted than we are, even in our primary areas of gifting. But we need those further along on the journey to help us mature into our gifting. The good news of our limited gifting is that we aren’t meant to be everything to everyone. We are simply called to play our part in the body. This is a humility that leads to peace and joy.
Recognize the limitations of your gifts. No amount of gifting can guarantee the work of God. Our gifting may correlate to a pattern of how God works through us, but it doesn’t force God’s hand. The breath of God’s Spirit is always needed to translate our gifts into meaningful impact.
This is a mystery that we have no control over.
While God loves to work through us to bring redemption, we must never forget that as we seek to be faithful with our gifts, we are ever waiting on the Lord to do what only he can. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
Perhaps this is what led Joe to his startling reflection. Maybe he had a greater sense than most of how ineffective his gifts were to accomplish anything apart from God. Maybe it’s only when we come to terms with our own poverty that we can fully be the vessels of God’s grace that he desires us to be.
In a world in which people are often valued for their gifting, God intends for our gifts to be a wellspring for humility. He gifts us uniquely in the body to be dependent on one another and ultimately reliant on him. He gifts us to include us in a story much bigger than our own. And he gifts us to remind us that he is the great Giver to whom we owe our all.
Adam Salloum has served on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for over ten years and currently serves as the Area Director for South Carolina. He’s a graduate of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. You can follow him on Twitter.