By God's Grace We are Spiritually Gifted

Paul starts this section out by qualifying himself as being one who has received the grace from God. It is through God’s grace that Paul has received Jesus as Lord and Savior that he is able to teach of God’s grace. Paul’s instructions are simple ‘do not think of yourself higher or better than you really are.’ In short do not let pride shape your faith or control who you are. God is the one who gives us our faith for a couple of reasons: 1. to grow our relationship in Christ; 2. so we may put all our trust in Him; 3. to ensure that He is with us through all our trials; 4. to see the possible in Him when things seem impossible. The faith we possess is a critical element in exercising the gifts God has given to us.

In order to do the work that God has intended for us, we must ensure that our pride does not get in the way or take over the ministry. If we do not keep our pride in check it can certainly get away from us and destroy what God is trying to do in our life and through our life. Satan’s pride led him right out of heaven (Isaiah 14:13-15) and if we are not careful, it can happen to us. Paul emphasizes the importance of rejecting a prideful nature because he knows through personal experience that to successfully do God’s work and receive His spiritual gifts we need to absolve ourselves from the pride that the world wants us to cling to.

Paul presents the concept of being one body in Christ. We see that he has as in the earlier chapters of Romans and his other letters, conjoined the Jews with the Gentiles as being one in the body. God knows in order to do His work that He has called us to do, we need to recognize and understand the spiritual gifts and how they are integral with our faith. These gifts through our faith not only define the body as a whole but also define who we are as individuals serving Christ. When we acknowledge our gifts and share them with others, the body of the church will function as designed by God.

God has given to each a spiritual gift through His grace that is intended to be used to glorify God and edify the body of Christ in ways that we could never imagine. Each gift is unique to the individual and they range greatly from prophesy to mercy. God equips us to use our gift based on our faith. Proportional to faith our gifts will grow in season and out. God has given to each what I call a baseline gift. What I mean is that the gift we have comes natural to us. For example, my wife Paula has the gift of mercy. I see it in action all the time with me and with others. This is a part of her GGG (God’s given gift). Although she has this as a primary gift, God will also gift us based on the circumstances that surround us. I view these gifts as transitional to be used for the moment when God calls upon us to minister to others based on the situation. The baseline gifts will be with us for the rest of our days but what I call the transitional gifts could be for a season or for a moment.

Every gift is important to God this is why Paul continues to remind us here and in his other letters (1 Corinthians 12 and Philippians 2:1-4). As a Christian we need to recognize and utilize every tool God gives us to advance His word through our faith in Him, the growth of the kingdom of heaven. The work we do is for the glory of God so that we may stay strong in His word and stay on the path with the faith that He has put before us so we may stay more focused on heaven and less focused on the world.

My prayer is that we would exercise the spiritual gifts God has given to us. I pray that we will diligently seek those gifts to be used to glorify God. I pray that we will ask the Lord to bless us with other gifts to grow our faith and the faith of others around us. I pray that as we use our gifts that God will put a hedge of protection around us so we may be isolated from the fiery darts from Satan. My prayer is that we would become one body that focuses on the Triune God on this earth in preparation to becoming one body in heaven. In Jesus Mighty Name I pray Amen! Amen!