How can my irritations help identify my motivational gift?

What actions and attitudes really irritate you? The answer to that question can help you identify your motivational spiritual gift: mercy, organizer, giver, exhorter, teacher, server, or prophet.

Identify What Disappoints You Most

What do Christians do (or fail to do) that frustrates and disappoints you most? Discern which answer below reflects your heart:

1. A: They tolerate sin and compromise with the world.
2. B: They fail to demonstrate true concern for the needs of others.
3. C: They substitute experience for sound doctrine.
4. D: They do not grow to spiritual maturity.
5. E: They do not trust and obey God in financial matters.
6. F: They do not accomplish any major objectives.
7. G: They do not demonstrate genuine love toward one another.

Recognize Your Gift

The answer you selected may very well reveal your spiritual gift. There are no right or wrong answers—all of the concerns are valid and important. Your spiritual gift reveals which one matters most to you, because your gift affects how you see life and respond to the needs around you.

The following key reveals how the gifts coordinate with the responses above: A: Prophecy, B: Serving, C: Teaching, D: Exhorting, E: Giving, F: Organizing, and G: Mercy.

Do not become frustrated because people with other motivational gifts see things differently than you do. One young lady took a spiritual gifts “test” to help her identify her motivational gift. After she had checked off every item in the list that described her particular gift, she was furious! Why?

She said, “Every Christian should be able to check all of these characteristics! This isn’t a gift—this is what being a Christian is all about!” She was angry that those characteristics were listed as “gifts,” because she saw them as essential qualities of anyone who called himself a believer.

Later, when she realized how her initial response vividly confirmed her gift—which happened to be mercy—she laughed at herself for being so blind to the fact that others were not supposed to see things through the perspective of the mercy gift. She also gained freedom to appreciate others’ gifts and abilities and to avoid bitterness toward those who did not perceive (and respond to) the needs that she saw so clearly.

Do Something About Your Concerns

Instead of remaining frustrated about your irritations or the fact that others don’t share your perspective, get busy using your gift. Determine what you can do now to begin resolving the problem that concerns you most.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Pray about it. Explain your understanding of the problem to God.
• Dedicate yourself to be part of the solution, whatever the cost.
• Ask God for wisdom as you read, memorize, and meditate on His Word daily.
• Take advantage of every opportunity that He gives you to use your spiritual gift.
• Abide in Christ and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to live in a manner that is pleasing to God.
• Evaluate the results of your labors in light of God’s Word. Seek to produce lasting fruit for God’s glory.

Identifying your spiritual gift is not an end in itself. The purpose of understanding your gift is to put it to use! As you seek the Lord, God will show you how He wants you to use your motivational gift to accomplish His purposes in your life, in the Body of Christ, and in the world.