Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:1-31 was one of the chapters I read today and it truly answered some of the questions I was struggling with. The entire chapter was devoted to the topic of spiritual gifts and could be divided into two subtopics: 'What our gifts are and where they come from' and 'How our gifts are to be used for Christ'. The first topic is related to in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. In it, Paul refuses to let us go into the world as believers without having knowledge of our spiritual gifts. Verse 4 says, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." The Holy Spirit gives us different abilities and talents based upon the role that God has determined for our lives. Every gift is diverse and unique to that individual, but they are all given to everyone of us by the same God for one purpose, his glory.

The second topic is related to in verses 12-31. Here Paul uses the analogy of the body of Christ. Now that we have the gifts we received from the Holy Spirit, we must use they for God's glory. From one to many, returns the many to the one. "What doth it profit my brethren, that a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" -James 2:14. For example, one gift is the hand of Christ, just because you don't use the hand to walk doesn't mean it isn't important. Another gift may be the foot, just because you don't need your feet to write a devotional or a letter, doesn't mean the foot has no value. All gifts are important no matter how unimportant they may seem at one time or another.