God Uses People to Care for People
God’s Rich Variety – Part IV
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Key Verses: 1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT and 1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. … It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Serious Christ-followers believe in the spiritual gifts that God gives. However, many Christ-followers do not feel confident that they understand the spiritual gifts that God has given them.
The first question that a Christ-follower often asks is “when do I get the spiritual gift that God has chosen to give me? In the Bible this is not explicit, but when a person asks Jesus into their lives, God gives them His Spirit and spiritual gifts.
The Bible does say plainly that God gives every believer the Holy Spirit. Read what the Apostle Paul write in Romans 8:9b:
…And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Since every believer has the Spirit, then it is reasonable to conclude that the spiritual gifts come at the same time as the Holy Spirit.
Today’s Key Verse makes clear the purpose of our spiritual gifts: “…so we can help each other”. We all realize that God could meet all the needs of every believer and there would be no need for believers to help other believers. But God chooses to use each of us to minister to each other, or as our title says, “God Uses People to Care for People”.
The Bible says that God said to the Prophet Isaiah,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8 NIV)
The Living Translation of this verse adds a little more understanding:
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine”. (Isaiah 55:8 NLT)
Both translations make it clear that we need not question God’s ways, nor ask “why would God use people to care for people?”. Accept the fact that God has decided that His people should love and care for other believers. Be mindful of the needs of those believers with which we worship and fellowship.
Also be mindful of the needs of believers around the world. Arrange finances to give a portion of funds to the efforts of missions around the world. Also, God puts spiritual gifts in some believers that charge them to personally go to a foreign land and serve God there.
The tendency of believers to relegate care for fellow believers to the “paid pastors and staff” must end; it’s not biblical. Every believer must understand their responsibility to “see and meet” needs of others.
Father, thank You for giving me spiritual gifts. Help me to understand them and use them as You have purposed for Your people. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.