Friends Don't Let Friends be Stupid!

“ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills”- 1 Corinthians 12:11

  One and the same Spirit. Every single one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are inspired and are accomplished BY the Holy Spirit (Shocking,I know!) However, If I truly know this the way I claim to, why is it that I find myself so many times creating a hierarchy of importance within Christendom? Why do I so many times find myself judging others, or giving certain people more respect than others solely because I think I can see a certain gift in them that I in my Flesh have deemed a “valuable” gift.

    While I was meditating on this verse, the Lord seriously convicted me. I claim to not place importance on spiritual gifts, with the supposed understanding that it’s all the Holy Spirit working and therefore whether it’s the gift of tongues or compassion they both have a significant and equal value , neither one validating a Christian and their walk with the Lord any more than the other, but....is that really what I do? If I’m being honest many times it’s not. I automatically place more weight on what certain people say or their perspective because of the obvious gifts I think I see in their life, and I’m sometimes quick to disregard or completely ignore other people because they have less “ in your face” gifts.

     This is so wrong, it kind of disgusted me when He revealed the fact that I many times see people like this. Nothing that the Lord does is insignificant, no gift is too small, or unworthy. They are all a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and thus GOD. To say that one of them is not as important as another, is like saying that one aspect of God is not important compared to another, and let me clarify this right here and now, ALL OF GOD IS IMPORTANT. There is not a single aspect of the Lord that is lesser, or meaningless, He is ALL good, ALl perfect, ALL powerful, ALL righteous....He is ALL

       All gifts are important and powerful because they have all been granted by the same Powerful God. He chooses who receives what gift, and it’s just that...a GIFT! It is not a representation of our worth (because if it was we wouldn’t be receiving a gift at all, but punishment in response to our behavior towards God) they are given simply because He wants to give them to us. 

     Who am I to question why I or others receive them, or even try and categorize them and give them worth. His ways are not our my and His point of view is not mine (Praise Him for that!). My job is not to do anything but simply be grateful that He is allowing me, a sinner, to help Him carry out His work here on earth and using whatever gift He decided to Grace me with, to point back to Him, His Glory, the fact that He has paid for the sins of the world and that He has made a way to the Father. 

Application: 

   “ I will verbally appreciate a gift whenever I see it, simply for being from the Holy Spirit, and ask someone to keep my accountable (and rebuke me!) when I start to let my stupidity run wild and try and figure out how God’s economy works. Friends don’t let friends’ stupidity run rampant!