JULY 27, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 

When was the last time you had such a wonderful gift that caused you to grin from ear to ear? Whatever that was, you must have been elated (very happy). Today, there is more reason to grin! God loves to give us gifts and He is a generous heavenly Father!

All true believers in Christ will be blessed with at least one spiritual gift. In today’s passage, we read of some of the gifts bestowed to the people in the time of Paul the Apostle. However, not all gifts are needed all the time, so some of those you read about would not be given today; these include miraculous healing, speaking in and interpretation of tongues, and prophecies. But many other types of gifts remain!

Why does God give gifts? For one, He wants to bless us. With the gifts He bestows, we are expected to use them to bless others. Imagine you give your mummy a lovely bookmark. You have put in a lot of effort making this bookmark and want to give it to her as a surprise. However, after she receives it, strangely she does not use it. Instead, she puts it in some corner and totally forgets about the bookmark. How would you feel? Would you like that feeling? Of course not! Your mummy will not do such a thing because she loves the giver of the bookmark, and as she loves you, she will also treasure what you give.

Do you love God? Are you thankful to Him for His gifts? If you love God, you will also love His gifts. And when you love His gifts, you will use them. We shall examine four different gifts over the next four days. But for today, there are two main lessons: firstly to be grateful to God for His gifts and secondly, that we may learn to use and strengthen these gifts!

Thought: Thank God for His gifts!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am so thankful that despite my sin and disobedience, You have given me gifts. I pray I will understand what they are and use them to glorify Thy name. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.