Re: Gift, A gift is meant for giving

Fiona Reynolds January 24, 2025 6 2

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1 Corinthians 12: 4-13 (NLT)

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

I was at a meeting today: the first of this year. As everyone arrived, there is a bit of chatter about Christmas. One person reflected that, now everyone was an adult, they did ‘Secret Santa’ rather than the overwhelming gift exchange that comes with children. Another responded that their mother and aunt, who now live many miles apart, buy for themselves from the other. There was much amusement over the reality that they often bought slippers for themselves on behalf of their sister!

Gifts are meant for giving. Even in that odd concept of ‘buying something for yourself from me’, there is a sense of sharing. There is more than one person involved. This is writ large in the gifts of the Spirit outlined by Paul in his letter to Corinth.

There is the initial gift, given to us by the Spirit. We do not get everything, but between us we get everything we need. For it is not a gift given for us alone to use or play with: it is given for the sake of everyone else. Then, when the whole Body of Christ is working, gifting, sharing, living together, the church becomes the fullest iteration of blessing for the whole world.

Prayer:

Gift-giver,

help us resist the all-too-human desire to have it all;

give us joy in celebrating the gifts of those around us;

with humility, may we offer and receive, over and again,

inspired always by the Trinity of Love, AMEN.