There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. [1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NLT)]
Jesus promised the disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.” [John 14:16-17] In fulfillment of that promise, the moment we accept Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts. When He arrives, He helps us but, rather than making the bed or washing dishes, the Spirit comforts, counsels, and convicts us. He gives us the power to share His word, the strength to do His work, and confidence in the fullness of God’s promises.
Like a good house guest, the Holy Spirit also brings us a gift. Unlike most presents, the Spirit’s gifts aren’t tangible, can’t be purchased on Amazon, and are expressly designed for the recipient. Received solely through the grace of God, a spiritual gift is a supernaturally designed ability granted to every believer by which the Spirit ministers to Christ’s church. Like a Craftsman tool, it is meant for building God’s Kingdom and guaranteed to last a lifetime!
Originating from His presence, the Spirit’s gifts are not the natural abilities with which we were born—things like being “double-jointed,” having perfect pitch, or being able to wiggle our ears. Our talents are inherited at birth and developed through the years. Both the unsaved and saved possess talents but only the saved receive the Spirit’s gifts! They are given to us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior—when we are born again. While talents can be used to serve both ourselves and others, the gifts of the Spirit are used to glorify God as we serve others. Nevertheless, God is not about to waste our talents and skills so His gifts often line up with our natural aptitudes.
Described in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12, the Spirit’s gifts are capabilities that enable each of us to build God’s Kingdom: they include things like wisdom, prophecy, administration, teaching, hospitality, discernment, exhortation, and service. Scripture’s lists, however, vary with translations and are neither definitive nor all-inclusive. God is not a ”one-size-fits-all” designer and, while the Spirit’s gifts have a common origin, they are customized by Him to fit exactly into each believer’s heart.
Just as the master in the Parable of the Talents decided how many talents each of his servants were given, it is God alone who decides the kind of gift or gifts received. Investing their master’s talents in his absence was the task of the servants in that parable and using the gifts of the Spirit to build God’s Kingdom until Jesus returns is our task. Sadly, just because the Holy Spirit has given us a gift doesn’t mean we’ll use it; it can remain hidden away as was the talent received by the lazy servant. Let us remember—things did not go well for the one who failed to make use of his master’s talents! As Christ’s followers, we must be good stewards of whatever gifts we’ve been given so that everything we do “will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ!”
As God’s children, we are not to be observers; we’re to participate actively in the Lord’s work. Spectators sit and watch, but we are called to use our spiritual gifts and serve continually. [Charles Stanley]
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. … Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. [1 Peter 4:10,11 (NLT)]
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When writing about giving God the glory and how we are but instruments of God’s grace in the world, I recalled a quote by Mother Teresa having to do with being God’s pencil. Wanting to quote it correctly, I Googled it. Along with the quote, I came across several versions of a parable about a pencil. Of unknown origin, it has been around for more than twenty years. Nevertheless, the parable was new to me and this is my version of “The Parable of the Pencil.”
At first, it seems that the “Parable of the Unforgiving Servant” should be called the “Parable of the Forgiven Servant.” After all, the king forgave his servant’s debt of 10,000 talents—the equivalent of billions of dollars. While the first part of the parable illustrates the value and extravagance of God’s forgiveness, it takes a dark turn in the second part when illustrating the reciprocal nature of His forgiveness—something the servant learned the hard way!
The book of Leviticus outlined several things that could make someone ceremonially or ritually unclean. These things included bodily discharges, touching a corpse, and skin infections, as well as contact with any unclean person or thing. By Jesus’ day, even entering a Gentile’s home made someone unclean. Anything and anyone an unclean person touched became unclean and, anyone who touched them or what they touched also became unclean.
Like Christians, Hindus believe that, when the body dies, the soul does not. Unlike Christians, however, Hindus believe that, after death, the soul lives on in an astral body until it is reborn in another physical body. This cycle is continually repeated until the soul reaches a certain state of perfection (moksha) and is released from the bondage of birth and death. At that time, like a drop of water that eventually merges into the ocean, the soul will finally merge into God and become one with its creator. Of course, once absorbed by the sea, the drop would cease to exist.
Since we both attended liturgical churches as girls, my friend and I were trying to recall the terms for the various parts of a traditional church building. We knew the foyer is called the narthex and the congregation sits the church’s nave. We also knew the altar rail usually separated the nave from the chancel in the front. It’s from the chancel that the service is conducted and where the altar, pulpit, and lectern are located. We even recalled that the sacristy was the room holding Communion supplies and linens. Since we were worshipping in a park that morning, my friend asked the location of our sanctuary. In historic usage, sanctuary and chancel were synonymous but, in modern usage, a sanctuary consists of the entire worship space of a church. With no building, we had no narthex, nave, or chancel but we did have a worship space; our sanctuary was a gazebo in a county park.
