Devotion • October 18
Today’s Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 14:13–25
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive.
What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.
In the law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people; yet even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, “God is really among you.” (NRSV)
Reflection
This passage reminds me of a question I heard a few years ago — for whose benefit are you speaking? It’s a question I’d never thought much about and in that context, the clear implication was that I should speak for the benefit of others, not for my own. My initial reaction was to agree with the speaker. I mean, after all, speaking for my own benefit is egotistical and selfish, right?
But as I think about it more, I would humbly argue that there is no right answer to that question. Whether I should be speaking for someone else’s benefit or my own depends on the situation. Jumping in to correct a colleague about something trivial isn’t for their benefit or for the benefit of the team, it’s for my own. It’s so that I can be right, look smart, put them in their place, etc. In that situation, speaking for my own benefit isn’t a virtue.
But there are situations where it is. For example, even if what I have to say isn’t going to change the outcome (i.e. benefit someone else), it may be that sharing my thoughts is necessary for my own sense of justice or morality or to find closure. In other words, so I can sleep at night.
Ideally, it’s not an either/or question and when I speak it’s both for my benefit and for the benefit of others. That won’t always be possible, but I can strive to do so.
Prayer
Lord, let the words that I speak come from both my head and my heart and whenever possible, be for both my benefit and the benefit of others. Amen.
Written by Nicole Spirgen, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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