The Common Good Principle

What is your spiritual gift?

THIS WEEK’S BOLD STEP DEVOTION

“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed” (1 Corinthians 12:1).

My wife, Dee, and I got married in a little town in Spain where I grew up as a missionary kid. We decided to honeymoon throughout Europe by pitching a tent wherever we felt like stopping for the night. Perhaps it was not the most romantic honeymoon, but we’re still happily married after all these years!

While on our honeymoon, I wanted to impress my new bride with the many languages I naively thought I could understand other than Spanish and English. I did great navigating in France, but Italy was a different story. I thought I knew enough Italian to get by, but that mistake cost Dee and me several hours of driving out of our way one evening. Needless to say, that was our first argument as a married couple!

Misunderstandings can occur when people don’t communicate effectively or have different perspectives on something. We see this play out in the sports world when a player misunderstands his coach’s instructions and ends up making the wrong play. In general, having different perspectives between people can quickly lead to misunderstandings!

We see this same concept in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, as he sought to clear up any misunderstandings they had, specifically about spiritual gifts and how they should be used within the church body. Unfortunately, there were so many disagreements on this issue alone that Paul devoted an entire chapter to ensuring that the Corinthians weren’t uninformed about the workings of the Spirit.

In short, spiritual gifts are given to every believer for the common good of others. These gifts can’t be earned, nor are you born with them. Rather, you are born again with them. They allow you to do something that’s not in your own power. Some of these gifts include wisdom, knowledge, service, teaching, and faith. Everyone who has the Holy Spirit has a gift for the purpose of promoting unity, love, and the edification of the body of Christ.

If you’re a follower of Jesus, my challenge to you today is to not stay uninformed about spiritual giftings but to take the next step in discovering how God has gifted you! Lean into the valuable role you have to play in the overall health and growth of the body of believers.

Listen to the sermon series: The Gifts of the Spirit

Part 1Part 2

Ministry Update from Mark

I’m excited to announce that next week we’ll be offering a Spanish version of my devotional, The Bold Stepper Weekly! Producing resources in my mother-tongue, Spanish, has been a dream of mine since Bold Steps launched! Having grown up in Spain as a missionary kid, my heart is burdened for Spanish speakers around the world to know the love of their Messiah. Pray with me that this new resource would reach hands and hearts for the sake of the gospel. You can sign up for free to receive this weekly devotional in either English or Spanish at www.boldsteps.org.