Daily Devotion – January 20, 2022 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
12:13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
12:15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
12:19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
12:20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;
12:24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,
12:25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
12:31 But strive for the greater gifts.

We didn’t create ourselves. Yes, this might be a shock to some folks. But we came from our families’ DNA, we have a certain size and shape, we are apt to have certain talents, and we have our own difficulties as well. Out of that mess of given characteristics, as children and as adults, we grow and develop into full-sized human beings. Who are still creatures, beloved children of God. And designed in very specific ways so that we might co-create with God a trustworthy world, to the glory of God and to the benefit of – guess who? – our neighbors.

Your gifts are not necessarily my gifts – but how great is that? If we had the same gifts, we would be a bit redundant. But with a diversity of gifts we can do more. And why is that important? Because the gifts were not given to us for US. They were given to us “for the common good,” says a phrase from last week’s portion of this letter from Paul. We were meant to pool those gifts to serve the world that God loves.

So stop sitting around your house playing a solo trumpet. Go out and find a fiddler and a percussionist and go play music for people who are shut inside during COVID. Stop sitting around your house making the most gorgeous blankets you can imagine. Go out and find a person who works with folks who need furnishings and a person who can organize transportation. We have been gifted with extraordinary talents for some very particular work that God is already doing right in our very own town. Find what God is up to at the moment, and then figure out how you are gifted to join in that work.

Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Help us to figure out where you are already at work near us and which of our gifts could be put to your service in that work. Amen.