Friday, January 17, 2025  

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Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 12:1–11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (NRSV)

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Reflection

I’m a big fan of memorizing lists, or at least of retaining a vague understanding about what’s on them. Mostly because I’m good at misplacing whatever list I had just created. Ever head off to the grocery store while that important piece of paper sits on the kitchen counter? Good thing you can recall the gist of what’s on it!

Maybe that’s why so many of us, as Sunday school students, were asked to learn the Ten Commandments by heart — so that those ancient proclamations would travel with us through life.

What I don’t understand is why the Ten Commandments were the only biblical lists we memorized. Consider the varying seasons of life enumerated in Ecclesiastes 3 — “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Why didn’t we memorize those? Or the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 — “Blessed are the pure in heart.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Yet if we allow ourselves to admit it, we are tempted, aren’t we, to wonder which of the Beatitudes applies to us. To wonder which reward in heaven will be ours to claim.

Likewise, Paul’s list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 may tempt us to claim a particular gift as our own. Prophecy? Interpretation? Wisdom? Knowledge? But that isn’t Paul’s point, is it? Consider what his words teach us today. First, the varieties of gifts originate not from our actions but by the Holy Spirit working through us. Next, while there are diversities in spiritual gifts, it is the same Spirit, and the same God, that is the source of them all. No one gift is better than another.

And then there is verse 7: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” And this is one of the great ideals of diversity: that the many come together for the benefit of all. Shall we advance this ideal by pausing to recognize the spiritual gifts we see in others, and then thinking, yes, that’s the Holy Spirit at work?

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Prayer
Spirit of God, descend upon our hearts. Amen.

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Written by Sarah Forbes Orwig, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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