uiWhat gifts do you have? What are your talents and skills? What can you do that is special? Can you sing well? Are you gifted with the ability to translate languages? Can you adapt to whatever situation you find yourself in? Have you given thought to where your gifts come from?
Each of us are gifted with talents and skills. We may have a knack for playing musical instruments. We may be able to learn languages easily. We may be able to quickly adapt quickly to vastly different situations. We may be great a negotiating or mediating.
There are more talents and skills than we can count. Many of them go unnoticed or taken for granted. For instance, the ability to hear and speak, verbal communication, is a skill that not everyone has, but most of us take for granted. We talk all day long. We exchange ideas, tell stories, relate our day at work to our spouse, and hear the dialog of a movie. We don’t give any of those a second thought.
Each of us is also gifted with spiritual gifts. Not one of us has been gifted all of them. Yet, when we come together as a body of Christ—the church—we have all the gifts we need to carry out God’s mission. None of us can do it all on our own. It requires us to come together, work together, share our ideas and experiences to accomplish the mission God has given us.
When the Apostle Paul wrote today’s passage to the church in Corinth, he was not writing to an individual. He was writing to the body of Christ in Corinth. When he said they were not lacking, he was talking about the group. As a group, we are not lacking. When we come together, we have all we need.
I pray we all come together to accomplish the mission God has given us. I pray we share our gifts with the body of Christ. I pray each one of us will put our gifts to good us in God’s service. Recognize your spiritual gifts. Use your gifts for God. Work with the church. Accomplish the mission God has given the church.
1 Corinthians 1:4-7 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Marty Pressey 