DEVOTION – DAY 455

1 Corinthians 12:7 “For The Common Good”

1 Corinthians 12:7 “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

Every member of the body of believers, ie. the Church has been given some spiritual gift. Some are blessed with multiple spiritual gifts, others, have at least one spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:7 reminds every believer that the Holy Spirit gives Christians their spiritual gifts for “common good.” Thus, the presence of spiritual gifts not only confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives, it also serves as a reminder that Christians have a responsibility to use their spiritual gifts to build up their Christian community. They were not to use their spiritual gifts for selfish purposes but to benefit the church – their fellow Christians. 

In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, the apostle Paul describes some examples of spiritual gifts. It includes wisdom (v8); knowledge (v8); faith (v9); healing (v9); miraculous powers (v10); prophecy (v10); discernment (v10); speaking in different kinds of tongues or languages (v10); and the gift of interpretation of tongues (v10). V11 tells us that “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.”  

I have an old school friend who serves as a Pastor of a church in Singapore. He told me that it was important to have a gift of a special private prayer language as it serves as evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I had to gently point him to this section of 1 Corinthians where Paul lists a partial list of spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit and that the purpose of the gifting is to build up the church – for the common good. In the light of v7, when one reads v10, it would seem that the focus of speaking in tongues is not as a gift of a private prayer language but rather, it is a gift of different languages so that those who are gifted in this area can share the gospel to people speaking other languages. One could use one’s gift of other languages to translate work for the church or for other Christian organizations that operate across different language groups. Whilst it is certainly possible for a Christian to be blessed with a spiritual gift of a personal private prayer language, the emphasis of all spiritual gifting is that the gifts be used for common good, – to build up the church as a whole.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we thank you for equipping us with spiritual gifts to build each other up. Please help us to use all our gifting to further your mighty purposes and to give you all the glory. We pray this in the Holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Questions

• What are some spiritual gifts that the Lord has given you? How have you been using these gifts for common good? Share.

• Why is it important to use your spiritual gifts?

• How has your understanding of spiritual gifts been affected as a result of what you now know of 1 Corinthians 12:7-11? Share.