1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.
Do you believe God wants to use us to impact the world? Doesn’t it make sense that God would give his people tools to accomplish that? Even supernatural tools.
I imagine you’re like me. Concern about a situation drives your desire to help in some way, somehow. You long to offer reassurance or comfort. But you don’t know what to say or what to do. As a follower of Christ, the next step most likely involves prayer. Lord please show me how to help. Then comes the challenge….
Do we believe God will impart spiritual gifts that enable us to bring the encouragement we desire to give? I’m afraid we all too often relegate the Bible’s description of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4), to the past. Pages of history in the Christian faith, not relevant for today. So we don’t seek answers beyond our understanding.
Sadly, we all know of people who abuse spiritual gifts. People who claim to “hear from God” but miss the mark. We don’t want to be among those who misrepresent God, and rightly so. But I think we can become so cautious that we don’t even position ourselves to hear from him.
Maybe it’s time to examine our openness.
I was talking about this to someone the other day who responded, “I’m open to all you’re saying.” But Paul urges us to go further than “openness.” He exhorts us to “eagerly desire the spiritual gifts.” I don’t think he would say this if it didn’t make a difference, then or now.
Friend, it does make a difference. But it will never happen unless we first align ourselves with biblical truth. God wants to use each of us in the building up of his church (1 Cor 14). And he offers us spiritual gifts to do it. We don’t pursue these gifts to build our spiritual résumés or feel good about ourselves. Something much higher is at stake. We long for the gifts because we’re head over heels in love with God and cherish his people.
Let’s love other people so much that we seek spiritual gifts on their behalf. Let’s go beyond merely “being open.” Let’s do what the scripture says and “earnestly desire” them. Then step back and watch God work!