“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
~ 1 Corinthians 12:27
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like getting gifts? What kind of gifts do you like getting the most? Do you like getting toys the most? Do you like getting clothes the most? Do you like getting money the most? Have you been playing with the toys that you have gotten as gifts? Have you been wearing the clothes that you have gotten as gifts? Have you been spending the money that you have gotten as gifts? What gift has God given to you? What are you doing with the special gift that God has given to you? Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 told the congregants of the Corinth Christ-follower fellowship that God – as God the Father, had given them different gifts. God – as God the Spirit, has the assigned responsibility of activating the manifestation gifts that God – as God the Father, embedded or instilled in His specially elected guys, gals and kids. God – as God the Son, has the assigned task of ensuring that the predestined gifts that have been embedded or instilled by God – as God the Father, in His specially elected guys, gals and kids, are always being used by His specially elected guys, gals and kids within the universal body of Christ-follower guys, gals and kids through caring for and serving one another. God – as God the Father, has the assigned mission of systematically unwrapping His planet Earth specific choreography that He Himself ordered by divinely incorporating the gifts that He has given to His specially elected guys, gals and kids to use. Gifts that are given to you by your dad and ma, by your grandma and grandpa Short or by your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris are temporal gifts. A gift that is a toy, shirt or money will only last as long as you want it to last. The gift that God – as God the Father, has given you is an eternal gift. The gift that God – as God the Father, has given you will last as long as you are alive on planet Earth.
When God – as God the Father, in His sovereignty designed you before He created the planet Earth orb, He hardwired you with a gift that He expects you to use. You can return any temporal gift that any guy or gal has given you. You cannot return the eternal gift that God – as God the Father, has given you. God – as God the Father, has given you – as His adopted kids, separate unique gifts that He expects you to utilize to edify Him in His extended, growing body of specially elected Christ-follower guys, gals and kids. The gifts that God – as God the Father, has embedded or instilled in you – as His elected kids, are distinctive, extraordinary gifts that He expects you to use in His extended, growing body of specially elected Christ-follower guys, gals and kids to edify these guys, gals and kids who have already passed through the faith/grace door. God – as God the Father, has not given you – as His dearly beloved kids, extraordinarily spectacular gifts in order for you – in His extended, growing body of specially elected Christ-follower guys, gals and kids, to be seen as being more special than the gifts that He has given to other guys, gals and kids. Paul used the human body as an example to explain to the Corinth Christ-follower community of guys and gals how each part of a body depends on every other part of a body. Feet walk. Hands carry. Eyes see. Ears hear. A human body cannot function as God – as God the Father, has designed it to function when there are no feet or when a hand is missing or when eyes go blind or when ears cannot hear. Just as a body has many parts – legs, arms, heart, stomach, etc., so does the extended, growing body of Christ-follower guys, gals and kids. Every guy, gal and kid in the extended, growing body of Christ-followers has had a gift that God – as God the Father, ordained him or her being awakened by God – as God the Spirit, so that what Paul elucidates in verse 27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”, can function at its’ ultimate, maximum potential.
Your grandpaa does not know exactly how many manifestation gifts that God – as God the Father, has allotted to any one of His specially elected guys, gals and kids. Paul in his first Corinthian Letter told the guys and gals who were Corinth’s fellowship’s adherents that between them that there were through what God – as God the Spirit, was doing for God – as God the Father, some guys and gals who had the gift of giving wisdom, some guys and gals who had the gift of having knowledge, some guys and gals who had the gift of faith, some guys and gals who had the gift of healing, some guys and gals who had the gift of performing miraculous powers, some guys and gals who had the gift of prophecy, some guys and gals who had the gift of distinguishing between spirits, some guys and gals who had the gift of speaking in different kinds of tongues and some guys and gals who had the gift of interpreting what a guy or gals was saying in another tongue. Paul also told the guys and gals who were Corinth Christ-follower fellowship attendees that the gifts that God – as God the Spirit, had distributed among them were to help some of them to be apostles, some of them to be prophets or preachers, some of them to be teachers, some of them to be able to perform miracles, some of them to be healers, some of them to serve others, some of them to help others, some of them to administrate and some of them to speak in tongues. Paul definitively reminded the Corinth Christ-follower guys and gals that no one manifestation gift is more superior than any other gift. Do you know what manifestation gifts that God – as God the Father, gave you? Ask your dad and ma what manifestation gifts that God – as God the Father, gave them. How has your dad and ma been using the manifestation gifts that God – as God the Father, gave them? Your grandpaa thinks that each manifestation gift can be utilized today in an exigent moment by each one of God’s specially elected guys and gals. God – as God the Father, expects you to always utilize the gift that He gave you.
1 Corinthians 12 (845)