DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GIFTS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GIFTS

"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all be made to drink into one Spirit." (I Corinthians 12:12-13)

The human body is a marvelous creation. It is made up of so many different parts, and yet all of the parts work together when the body is functioning properly. Paul used the human body as an illustration of the Church of Jesus. It is a marvelous organism when it functions as it should.

But there were problems in the church at Corinth. Some people thought that they were more important than others in the Church. Perhaps they were used in supernatural gifts, and thought that that placed them on a higher level than others. Paul made it clear that it was the Holy Spirit that gave various gifts to people as He chose. It was not the righteousness or the ability of the person that produced the gift. It was God the Holy Spirit who initiated the gifts.

This leaves no room for pride that thinks that our gift is better than some-one else's. Paul asked the question back in chapter 4, "Who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (4:7). The fact is that everything is a gift from God. That excludes any boasting on our part.

God is the source of all good things. As it says in vs. 28, God has appointed these in the Church – apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, gifts of healings, helps or service, administrations or leaders and government, and variety to tongues. We do not all have the same gifts but all the gifts are important, and God places them in the Body so that it will function well.

Lest we become prideful of the gifts God has given to us, we need to remember that the body cannot function without the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the lungs, the pituitary glands, and other gross parts. So the mouth cannot be proud just because it speaks beautiful words. It could speak nothing without the less beautiful parts of the body because the body would be dead.

We should "earnestly desire the best gifts" (vs. 31) – but, as we see in Chapter 13, love is the more excellent way.

Love, Dad