Use Your God-Given Gift

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26.

Like a physical body with many parts, the Church is Christ’s body with each believer moving in obedience to His mind—to His will—to operate in harmony (see 1 Corinthians 12). All the parts of the body, though diverse, must work together. Likewise, each local church must be built upon Christ to be effective for His Kingdom.

The problem arises, though, when not all members of the body are using their gifts (see 1 Corinthians 12:21, 26). Some of the believers in Corinth were not using their gifts—in fact, they were coveting the gifts of others. But Paul rebuked them, saying: “God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (12:18). Christians who do not exercise their gifts for the blessing of the body of believers are being disobedient. They are essentially saying to the Lord, “You don’t have the right to use me the way You intended to use me.”

But Paul exhorts us that Christ orchestrates all the members of His body according to His perfect, wise will. He is the one who decides who is a hand and who is a toe and who is a mouth and who is an ear. Your Father in heaven has given you your gift, and it is just for you. He intends you to use it. Now, you may be thinking, But my gift is unimportant. It’s largely invisible. What difference does it really make? Well, some of the greatest champions for Christ are virtually unknown.

Do you know who taught Martin Luther to read the Greek of the New Testament? Probably not. What about the man who led D. L. Moody to the Lord—the D. L. Moody who reshaped two continents for Christ? Or do you know who paid for William Carey’s missionary journey to India? Or who was faithful to pray for him? No, you probably don’t. Yet all these believers with so-called “unimportant” gifts were used by God to change history (see vv. 22-23). So don’t neglect your gift; use it to build on Christ’s foundation. God has a plan and a purpose for you in His Church for your good and, what is more, for His glory.

Prayer: Lord, use me for Your Kingdom in the body of believers. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.