Thought of the Day !!

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
                                              1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT)

This verse is a reminder of two things.  First of all, Paul tells us that we are all given a spiritual gift.  I believe that there could be more than one, but Paul reminds us that we all have at least one. 

So often people will tell me that they don't have any spiritual gifts.  They don't sing well, play a musical instrument or are not able to preach.  In their minds, this obviously means that no spiritual gift is available to them.  Some look to the scriptures that list a few of the spiritual gifts and say that this small list does not have anything that they are good at.  And so, obviously, they have no spiritual gifts. 

But Paul never mentions that his lists of gifts are exhaustive.  He never says that spiritual gifts are few in number.  The fact is that any gift given to you by God for the purpose of ministry is a spiritual gift.  Some use their wonderful cooking as a spiritual gift to feed those in need.  Some use the gift of being able to listen to people without interuption as a form of ministry.  Some use the gifts of time or writing or giving for ministry.  These all become spiritual gifts.  Find out what you're good at and use it for ministry.

The second thing this passage reminds us is that spiritual gifts are not given to us to keep to ourselves.  They are given to us to be used to show our love of neighbor.  Again, I urge you to find out what you're good at and use it for ministry.

In the love of Christ,
greg