Your Purpose 
Paul tells Christians in Ephesians 2:10 that “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Simply put, Christians are created and designed to do the good works that God prepared.

What does that mean for you? First, realize that the Christian life is not a lone-ranger existence. We’re part of a greater community called the church. God’s design is for our spiritual growth to happen within the church. The Apostle Paul addressed this to the church in Ephesus. See Ephesians 4:11-13, 16.

He tells the Ephesians that Christ gave the church leaders and teachers to help equip Christians for works of service. These works vary from teaching to leading to administering care to focused prayer to other activities. But the gifts all have the same goal: “so that the body of Christ (the community of all believers) may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and become mature in our Christlikeness.” Contributing to the growth of the church and its members is not optional. It’s the purpose for which you were designed.

How to Accomplish Your Purpose
The command in Ephesians 4, to do our allotted work, might seem daunting and stressful. That’s until we realize that God, the all-wise and all-powerful sovereign creator of the universe, created each of us specifically to do these works. Isn’t it encouraging to know that God has equipped you with gifts and abilities to do specific works? Paul addressed this as he wrote to the church in Rome. See Romans 12:4–6 and 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7, 11.

Essentially, Paul is saying we don’t all need to do the same thing. In fact, each member is not supposed to do tasks that they were not designed to do. Grace gifts from God not only equip us to do the good works, but they help bring focus and direction to our activities within the church body.

Not Using Your Spiritual Gifts
Unfortunately, because many (perhaps most) Christians don’t understand and use their unique gifts, they typically end up in one of two “ditches.” First, because they do not know how God has gifted them, they simply try to do anything (or everything!). Whenever a need in the church arises, whether it’s a good fit or not, they jump in to help. Not only does this lead to exhaustion and a sense of futility, it can rob another Christian of the opportunity to use his or her gifts.

The second ditch is neglect and apathy. Because they don’t realize they have been designed by God to serve and contribute to the growth of the church, they simply neglect to serve at all. This robs their joy and grace that God wants them to experience through using the gift. It also robs the church of participants.

The Apostle Peter tells us: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). This is the beauty of how God structured His church to be an administrator of grace in this world.

What to do Next?               
So, what are spiritual gifts and how do you discover yours? The list can vary depending on the author you read, but in general they include service, teaching, administration, leadership, giving, encouragement, mercy, helps, prophecy, discernment, evangelism, wisdom and others. To better understand what these gifts are, how to discover what yours are and how to develop them for maximum kingdom impact and personal growth, I highly recommend Chip Ingram’s study on spiritual gifts called Your Divine Design. 

Recommended reading:
Your Divine Design, by Chip Ingram 

If your Christian walk isn’t what you thought it would be or you don’t feel particularly productive as a Christian, I encourage you to take time to discover, develop and deploy your gifts. I have found that developing and using my spiritual gifts has been one of the keys to a joyful, purposeful and productive Christian walk.

Chris Haskett has been involved in a variety of ministries at New Hope Church. He is currently serving his second term as an elder. Chris strives to continually develop and deploy his spiritual gifts of leadership and teaching in whatever areas of influence God has placed him. He particularly enjoys using his gifts to bless his wife Jennifer and two daughters.