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Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us (Romans 12:3-6).

Contemporary Testimony: God the Spirit lavishes gifts on the church in astonishing variety-prophecy, encouragement, healing, teaching, service, tongues, discernment-equipping each member to build up the body of Christ and to serve our neighbors (29).

The gifts of the Holy Spirit to the church are beautiful. Eugene Peterson reaches for this when he paraphrases Romans 12:6-8 this way, \xa0\u201cIf you preach, just preach God\u2019s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don\u2019t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don\u2019t get bossy; if you\u2019re put in charge, don\u2019t manipulate; if you\u2019re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don\u2019t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face\u201d (The Message).

We have lost this beauty partly because we spend too much time figuring out what gifts we have. Spiritual Gift courses tend to complicate the matter. And sometimes like the Corinthians, we imagine that our gifts are more important than someone else\u2019s. Unfortunately, when we do that, what we are really driving at is this: \u201cI am more important than you are.\u201d Then, there is the theological tradition which asserts the gifts were only for the early church, to get her moving. Once she was rolling, they were fazed out.

All these things have caused us to miss the main thing which our confession states so poetically: God the Spirit lavishes gifts on the church in astonishing variety- \u2026 -equipping each member to build up the body of Christ and to serve our neighbors (29).

When asked why his church did not have a spiritual gift course, one modern mega-church leader responded with, \u201cI tell people to get busy serving; trust the Holy Spirit to bring you to that place where you are needed. Just start.\u201d I\u2019ve always appreciated that approach. The point of the Spirit\u2019s gifts is not \u201cwhat are they?\u201d but \u201cwhy are they given?\u201d & \u201chow am I using them?\u201d.

\u2018What gift do I have?\u2019 is only of secondary importance. These gifts are jewels through which the grace of Jesus flows, like raindrops through which light refracts and reflects to create a rainbow. The Holy Spirit desires to use us to serve the church and our neighbours, thereby giving glory to God.

That is why Paul begins, \u201cDo not think of yourself more highly than you ought\u201d. When we recognize that we are instruments the Holy Spirit uses to do God\u2019s work, much grace will flow to the world. When our conversations about the gifts focus on \u2018me\u2019, they will lose their beauty. However, when we trust the Holy Spirit to lead us in our Christian life, these gifts will display the full beauty of God\u2019s grace.

Occasionally, we might lengthen our breath prayer just a tad, \u201cCome, Holy Spirit, shine through me.\u201d