No One Gift

"We are not meant to work independently, from separation, but are to share a common thread in the furtherance of the spread and growth of the gospel within and without."

THE SPIRIT HATH tempered us all together. Many parts in differing locations with alternate purposes and one goal – that there be no schism. No separation. No disunity. We are mingled so that what gifts He gives us work together for the good of all inside the church and outside in the marketplace. We are not meant to work independently, from separation, but are to share a common thread in the furtherance of the spread and growth of the gospel within and without church walls. All under the same power which raised Christ from the dead, which power enables us to work in strength to life and godliness.

Though one may rise and one sink lower, the service of each is needed in the capacity into which it is given them. Neither is lesser. Neither is more. Each is unique, and the work of each is drawn from the Spirit which fills the body in particular. Christ is the Head. The body shares His intentions.

No man walks with one leg forward and another which hangs back. But both move ahead, though doing alternate motion. So it is with the many members of the church. Though one may be smaller, though one may bend and press in lesser motion, in the Spirit, all work in rhythm, apostle with prophet, pastor, and teacher, all gifts of knowledge and wisdom spoken in ordered eloquence to whomever He wills at the time He has chosen.

A song sung in repetition, the pauses and crescendos played as has been written. Salt over each portion of the meal’s fragrance, lifted up to heaven. A complete work. A finished design. The book made of pages thumbed in the order they were printed, meant to be read in sequence and not as this-and-that.

The body moves as the God of heaven has designed it from deepest recesses to outward motions and reproduces in kind and consumes and purges in kind, all for the health of the body. No one gift is for the benefit of one man and not another, nor for this one’s purpose over another’s. None is meant for advancement but are given as He wills to those He wills, whose wills have His heart foremost and His truth centered in their devotion. Maturity is wanted but purpose is needed in submission to what God’s Spirit sees needed individually and overall, with love as character and mercy in meekness.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)
“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:4)

JESUS CAST OUT unclean spirits. Jesus washed His disciple’s feet. He healed the lame and the blind, not as King but as a servant, His will submitted to the Father, whose words He would speak. No part of His work of redemption was done in self-service or greed, but even at the point of greatest sorrow, His choice was to follow the task He’d been given, despite His suffering.

The question was not would He but what manner was it to be seen. With no pride in His being but instead in what His death would bring, He aimed for the goal, His joy those gained with His victory. His power (ability) to go forward done through the Spirit whose power (authority) carried Him.

He as a man, as God, trusted His Resurrection to God, for God, so that those who would drink of His salvation would salt the sacrifice, preserving it for all who whose sins it would redeem. His was the blood shed, ours the salt (mineral) that filled it. His was the willingness which reaps our obedience.

He gave. We give. He saved. We live. He sighed. We breathe.


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com