For the Love of Gifts! Use Yours!

Throughout my first semester of Bible school I have been studying spiritual gifts a lot. And today I realized something I never had before. 1st Corinthians 13 is about spiritual gifts. Like WHAT?! I thought it was just saying that if you don't have love in your life then you really have nothing... but nope it is a lot more than that! First lets look at some of what spiritual gifts are and why you have them.

So basically God gives believers spiritual gifts in order for us to go out and to love others. They are given so we can better fulfill the great commission to go out and make disciples in all nations. Everyone who believes is given a spiritual gift and some are given many gifts but few know what their gift is and even less use their gift to its fullest potential. This to me is not exactly a great thing. We are given these gifts not to keep to our selves but to bless others with. And THAT is where 1st Corinthians 13 comes in. I encourage you to pull out your Bible or go onto Biblegateway.com and read over 1st Corinthians 13. As you read it, look at what it is really talking about. Take for example verse 1. If I speak in the TONGUES of man or of angels. Oh! Tongues! That's one of the spiritual gifts! Wait... what does verse 2 say? Prophesy and faith... hmm those are also spiritual gifts! Verse 3? The gift of giving. Yep! Keep reading! 

Finished it now? Well to summarize, it basically lists some of the spiritual gifts... and then goes on to say that if you do not have love with them, then they are not helpful... in fact they become useless or annoy and hinder others from knowing God! Kind of crazy? Well what exactly does this love have to include? Well for us to use our spiritual gifts with love, we must use the love that is described later in the passage. 

(4-8a) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

While we as believers are given spiritual gifts, we are to use them in love for others. They are not to be horded away and used selfishly, they are not to be used to boost our ego and become prideful, and they are not to be used to belittle others. As part of the Body of Christ our gifts are to be used along side each other to draw others to Him. For us to be an active body of Christ, we must be using all of our gifts, and that means knowing what they are and how best to use them.

I really encourage you as a follower of Jesus to use the gifts you have and to nurture them so that you will be able to use them to the best of your ability. And when you use them, remember to do it in love. Because with love, nothing will fail.

God Bless,
Breanna