Spiritual Gifts

Good News 111202 Spiritual Gifts

"Now about spiritual gifts, brothers,
...There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit
There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
There are different kinds of working,
but the same God works all of them in all men."
(1 Corinthians 12:1-6 NIV)

        Often the bible mentions the gifts given to us by the Lord. However, in every case the same spirit is mentioned. Think about what that means to all of us. Think about us as a team, a Christian body, placed on earth to do God's work. Not alone but as a team.

        I have always preferred working with a partner. My belief is that two people working as a team is four times better than the best of the two working alone. If that is true, then how powerful is a small congregation working together doing God's work?

       In the 2004 super bowl the New England Patriots came out to play without the TV Network’s usual fanfare of individual introductions. They came and won as a team. Last week in the paper there was a page dedicated to the state girls’ soccer championship. It listed the rosters of the two finalists as well as the state all star team. There were no all stars listed on the rosters of the two teams playing in the finals. The championship teams won as a team without any all stars!

        So we all "have different kinds of gifts but the same spirit". We can all participate and use these gifts to do God's work but we do not have the gifts to do it all alone. We need each other; we need our Christian family to get the job done.

Thought for Today: Let us focus on our talents, God's gifts to us. Let us recognize our gifts and use them to do God's work.

Prayer: Heavenly Father we ask, "what is it all about?” We pray to you for the ability to better understand it all. We pray for the ability to recognize our gifts and the knowledge on how to utilize them to help.
Amen