1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Psalm 25:1-5

1 Cor. 12:1-11
 This is one of several New Testament passages about spiritual gifts. (see Romans 12, Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4:10-11; 1 Cor. 13) Before we look at the specific examples, which, by the way, are not intended to be a complete list, let's look at the over-arching purpose of the gifts. "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." v. 7 Remember that Paul is talking to the church at Corinth so this is intended for believers within the church. A spiritual gift is a special gift that the Holy Spirit gives to an individual to bless and build up the body of Christ. No gift is more valuable than any other, and all are to honor the Lord and other believers.

vv. 1-4 seem to indicate that we might be tempted to divisions because of spiritual gifts, and this should not be because we serve the same Lord, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all spiritual gifts. vv.4-6

Here are the gifts mentioned in this passage as examples:

• the ability to give wise advice, v. 8
• special knowledge, v. 8
• great faith, v. 9
• healing, v. 9
• miracles, v. 10
• prophesy, v. 10
• discernment, v. 10
• unknown languages, v. 10

OK, so how do we deal with these? I understand wise advice, knowledge, faith, discernment, and maybe even prophesy (meaning telling others about God and His word).

But what about healing, miracles, and unknown languages? We know that God heals and performs miracles, and He knows everything there is to know about languages, but what does this have to do with us? Many conservative Bible scholars teach that these more dramatic gifts were what we call foundational gifts which God gave to the early church to show that it was indeed the Holy Spirit at work. Today we have the completed Word of God which is all we need to determine whether or not something is truly from God.

And so I think it's safe to say that we should make the Word of God our guide, and we should trust God to lead us in our faith and practice, and we should give others the freedom to do the same.

Psalm 25:1-5
Wow! We end the 1 Cor. passage with trusting God, and we begin the psalm with trusting God. We must be needing this today! "O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God!" v. 1
"Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you."vv 4-5

It's really true that so many times we really don't know what to do or what road to follow. Day by day we need to follow the our God, our Perfect Guide!