| Thursday, July 12, 2007 |
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| Written by Kevin Boling | ||
| Thursday, 12 July 2007 | ||
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Spiritual Gifts Assessments
 Yesterday, while doing a bit of research for the interview with Tim Challies, an article he wrote (way back in Jan. 2005) caught my attention.
The article was titled, “Spiritual Gifts Assessments and the Bible”. In the article he questions the legitimacy and accuracy of common spiritual assessment tests.
I’m sure if you have been an Christian for even a very short period of time, you have heard someone exclaim, based on one of these assessment programs, that “I have the gift of intersession” or “I have the gift of exhortation”. Sometimes the profession seems to line up with your specific knowledge about that persons personality and practices but at other times you may seriously question their conclusions.
The question is can these types of test be trusted as a legitimate and accurate guide to discovering your spiritual gifts?
With a tone of frustration with the process and initial results of these type of assessment programs, Tim writes;
“In the end I returned to Scripture and studied the gifts outlined in the applicable passages of Scripture. Having examined the gifts of the Spirit, both those in the Bible and those in various assessments, I decided to search for references in the Scripture of people assessing themselves to discover their gifts. A question I had to ask myself is this: Is there any Biblical model for searching for spiritual gifts? James Sundquist researched this and discovered the following:
I can't find one single Scripture that says finding our gift was EVER a problem for the Church.
I can't find one single Scripture that instructs us how to find our gift.
I can't find any historical account that finding our gift was a problem for the Church.
I can't find any historical account that finding our gift was a problem for Church Fathers.
Anything we do in Christ is not through our strengths, but is perfected in weakness.
I can't find one single Scripture which uses a subjective balance of weighing our strengths and weaknesses to determine our Gift(s) of the Holy Spirit.
I can't find one single Scripture that uses personality or personality theory to determine our course in Christ or in the Church.
I can't find one single Scripture that instructs us to come up with a numerical value or rating system for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
On today’s “Calling For Truth” Radio Program we will discuss these types of spiritual assessment programs in light of what the Bible says about spiritual gifts.
To listen to the program, click on the words “Read more”
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