“Each Person is Given Something to Do that Shows Who God is”

The Message translation of First Corinthians 12:5-8 says, “God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere, but they all originate in God’s Spirit.  God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere, but God himself is behind it all.  Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.  Everyone gets in on it.  Everyone benefits.”

 In the church in Corinth, there was confusion about and misuse of spiritual gifts—charismata—or gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Paul, as he writes to correct the Corinthians, emphasizes many things about God’s intentions for His Church in Chapters 12 through 14.  Here, he stresses the following:

 --God is the one at work—in and through us. The diversity of ministry carried out by His people is a reflection of God’s character and His distribution of gifts.

--God is the one who empowers us to do that which He has asked us to do.

--Every believer in Jesus is given a spiritual gift (or gifts).  These gifts are a reflection of God to other believers and to the world.

--Holy-Spirit-empowered gifts are for the benefit of others.

 To find out your gifts, take the free online assessment (based on Scripture) and then peruse the list and definitions provided at GodGiftsYou.com.

Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook and the Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been EquipConnectServe Director at her church since 1999.