July 24, 2016: Day 56 – I Corinthians 12

We will be focusing on verse 7 in this chapter which provides us with insight as to the theme of Paul’s words.  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  The crucial part of this sentence is that all of our gifts, all that we do, needs to be focused upon the common good.  Paul uses the example of the body to show how important each part is and that no one part is indispensable over the other parts.  This is such an important lesson in the church.  In many churches there are some who think that a church cannot run without them.  If the church is of God, then God will always raise up people to take part in His ministry.  This is true from the pastor to the elder to the member to the staff person.  Every single person contributes a part to the building up of the kingdom of God in the church.  

The listings of the spiritual gifts by Paul here can put some people in a bit of a crisis.  But what if, as vs.8 states, I don’t have the gift of wisdom, or knowledge, or faith, or healing, or miracles, or prophecy, or discernment, or tongues.  What if I’m just really good at serving meals and cleaning up after them and helping to organize them?  What we do know is that each one of us is gifted with a Spiritual gift, and the gift of hospitality, serving, cleaning up and organizing, is a strong, strong gift.  We should never downplay or discredit a gift that we or others may have just because we don’t think it is “spiritual” enough.