1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 12Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. Verse 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Verse 3Therefore 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. Verse 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; Verse 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; Verse 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. Verse 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Verse 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, Verse 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, Verse 10to 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. Verse 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Devotion
There are things I'm bad at: basic math, tracking calendar events, cooking. Fortunately, A) there's an app for these, and B) in my life, there are people who have gifts for these, too.
My wife and I are campus pastors at the University of South Dakota's Luther Center. Our biggest ongoing learning is understanding the varied skills required of us, and how few we might have. We regularly fall into a trap of believing our gifts are all we're working with. When we do, we're pretty "uninformed" or "ignorant" (Greek: agnoeo) of the Holy Spirit's gift-giving.
The bad and good news is that we can't do everything. If the Spirit assigns as she chooses, we might just need the body of Christ. For us, that means accessing the gifts of our colleagues, students and ministry board. What gifts do you have, and which do you lack?
Look up: There's a Spirit for those, and there are people for those, too.
Prayer
God, giver of all good gifts, thank you for all you have given me. Put me in places where my varieties of gifts will be used, and put people in my life with gifts I have not, to do your work in the world. Amen.