To Be Given

Erick du Toit January 18, 2022 0 2

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1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 (NRSVA)

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

By now, all your Christmas wrapping paper should be well on its way to a recycling depot. What exactly happens to all those boxes and Christmas cards you reluctantly toss in the bin; I’m honestly not sure?

My hope is that it gets re-used and re-purposed.

Provisional figures for 2020 show that 67.2% of UK packaging waste was either recycled or recovered, the same as in 2019. It sounds pretty good, ey? There’s, however, always more we can do to consume less.

If 2021 did anything, it reminded us of the importance of conservation and lowering our carbon footprint for the sake of our planet and consequently our existence.

But let’s bring things back to that gift you received on Christmas day, neatly packed inside a cardboard box, and covered in glitter and gold-paper: have you used it?

At all?

Maybe on a few occasions?

Perhaps, you’ve made plans to drop it off at your local Charity Shop.

Have you already re-gifted it? Good on ya! No shame in that!

I need to confess that gifting itself isn’t one of my strong suits. But what I do know, is that God LOVES dishing out gifts. He’s super generous and gives each individual specific spiritual gifts to serve the greater body of Christ. Paul lists 9 gifts here:

1. Word of wisdom
2. Word of knowledge
3. Faith
4. Gifts of healings
5. Miracles
6. Prophecy
7. Distinguishing between spirits
8. Tongues
9. Interpretation of tongues

When we use these gifts, it not only edifies the body of Christ but leads to personal and spiritual growth.

Maybe you’re not sure if you have any of these gifts, or some of the others mentioned later in the chapter or in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.

Might you have unboxed gifts ready to be used?

If you’ve never thought of your skills or talents as gifts, I want to affirm this: they are!

May God grant you many opportunities to share them with the world around you in the year to come.

PRAYER:

Unbox me God.   

I’m a gift,

One to be given.