Eric's Beijing Diary

I have been teaching on the Spiritual gifts. This afternoon, just for the fun of it, I was taking one of those "spiritual gifts" tests on the Internet (there are gobs of them). This one said that I have the "gift of poverty." Struck me funny for some reason. If they're talking about condition or state of being, then they're right on the money. But gift? Never heard of that one before. Talking about poverty as a gift seems a bit of an oxymoron to me.

By the way, if you're looking for a good self-test on the Motivational Gifts, I recommend the one by Whole Person Counseling. It's the most reliable instrument I have seen so far. You have to print out the score sheet and do it manually, but it's worth it.

Understanding the spiritual gifts, especially the motivational gifts, is a matter of vital importance, I think, for Christians in China. With the tremendous growth in the church in the past few years, it's easy for Chinese Christians to get "lost in the crowd," and thus have trouble identifying how they fit into the larger picture of God's purpose for China.