June 26 – Spiritual Diversity (1 Corinthians 12:1-20)

“There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”(1 Corinthians 12:6)

IN WORD:
The gifts of the Spirit are a glorious treasure. They are evidence that God has grafted us into His plan and made us His co-workers. Think of that! Partners with the eternal God! No achievement or recognition in our labor can compete with that. There is no higher honor for the work of our hands.
Such an amazing reality only comes to life in those who have the mind of Christ — those who are spiritually minded and filled with the Spirit of God. It is all the more amazing, then, when human nature distorts this blessing and makes it a fleshly point of contention. But how often this happens! The gifts of the Spirit become our occasion to judge the work of grace in others. If God has given us the gift of mercy, we have contempt for those who demonstrate a lack of it. If God has given someone a burden for a specific social problem, how easy it is for that person to assume all others should have the same burden. How common it is for us to think of our own gifts as spiritual and those who lack them as un-spiritual. Our giftedness and convictions are a true measure of spiritual maturity only in our own minds — never in Scripture.

IN DEED:
Church unity is often disrupted by the assumption that all causes are to be equally defended by all believers. Or that all ministries are to be equally served by all members of the body of Christ. We forget that our God loves variety. We forget that He has not distributed His gifts with absolute equity. Does that seem unfair? No, He will judge in fairness. Everyone is accountable for the resources he or she has been entrusted with. No more, no less. The distribution is determined by the wisdom of God.
Spiritual maturity is not found in having all gifts or defending all causes. It is found in accepting the diversity of God’s people and working within it.

“Spiritual gifts are no proof of spirituality.”
-Samuel Chadwick-