1 Corinthians
Have you ever read Scripture for the 5th...10th...20th ...(you fill in the number) ...time...and BAM! it hits you how it all makes sense, or flows or connects together in a way you hadn't seen before!!
Not that it hadn't hit me before...in other ways...but the thread....the full meaning if you take away the chapter and verse numbers...
That is what happened this Sunday as I was listening to the message at church.
He read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
📖 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
He was speaking about sharing all the gifts and talents we have with the body and those around us.
I continued reading...anticipating the rest of the chapter to be next...
He continued in another vein, basically that that all we do is important and we are each affected by each other.
but by then I was hooked...I was still reading.
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:1-13
📖 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I don't know if you see it! but in the first part of Chapter 12 Paul lists the gifts all given by the same Spirit., He distributes and gives each one as He sees fit. Then as you move to the end of the chapter he reiterates; we are all one body, even though we are given all different gifts, different personalities etc. But then he asks "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
No...we are all different and given different gifts and abilities....we shouldn't get caught up in those things.,
Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way."
And then goes into what is most famously known as "the love Chapter"! The greater gift, the most excellent way....LOVE!
Paul goes on to explain what Christ-like love looks like, nothing romantic, mushy or emotional about this LOVE. Nothing we do matters if we don't have Christ's love and live His love. He lists how this LOVE; mature, Christ like LOVE, should look like.
SO to restate in my words... There are many gifts given by the Holy Spirit but don't get caught up in what they are ...they will pass away, but let it all be directed and used in LOVE, Christ's LOVE! Without His LOVE none of it means anything for the kingdom.
THE GREATEST IS LOVE! We ALL have the capacity to share the gift of Christ's LOVE...if we have accepted it for ourselves.❤
🙏My prayer is; that first and foremost you have accepted the LOVE of Christ✟...and in turn LOVE 💗 above all else as you serve Him with the gifts 🎁 He has given you!❤
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