Your Gifts are for Helping the Entire Church

Hope you have been thinking about what gifts you have been given.  The following devotion by Rick Warren hopefully will be helpful in explaining why we have been given at least one gift & probably more.

Your Gifts are for Helping the Entire Church

"Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:14

You can't earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them - that's why they are called gifts!  They're an expression of God's Grace to you.  "Christ has generously divided out His gifts to us" (Ephesians 4:7)

Nor do you get to choose which gifts you'd like to have.  Paul explains that God determines that.  "It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts.  He alone decides which gift each person should have. (1 Cor. 12:11)

Because God loves variety, and He wants us to be special, there's no one single gift given to everyone, and no individual receives all the gifts.  If you had them all, you'd have no need of anyone else, and that would defeat one of God's purposes - to teach us to depend on each other.

Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit.  The Bible says "A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church" (1 Cor. 12:7)

When we use our gifts together, we all benefit.  If others don't use their gifts, you get cheated, but if you don't use your gifts, they get cheated.  This is why God wants us to discover and develop our spiritual gifts.

Rick Warren

Verse of the Day (NIV)
James 3:17-18 - “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
Bible Search
Lookup a word or passage in the Bible


BibleGateway.com
Include this form on your page