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Ice Flowers By Dennis Fisher
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:4-14
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
1 Corinthians 12:4
Fifteen-year-old Wilson Bentley was captivated by the intricate beauty of snowflakes. He looked with fascination through an old microscope his mother had given him and made hundreds of sketches of their remarkable designs, but they melted too quickly to adequately capture their detail. Several years later, in 1885, he had an idea. He attached a bellows camera to the microscope and, after much trial and error, took his first picture of a snowflake. During his lifetime Bentley would capture 5,000 snowflake images and each one was a unique design. He described them as “tiny miracles of beauty” and “ice flowers.”
No two snowflakes are alike, yet all come from the same source. So it is with followers of Christ. We all come from the same Creator and Redeemer, yet we are all different. In God’s glorious plan He has chosen to bring a variety of people together into a unified whole, and He has gifted us in various ways. In describing the diversity of gifts to believers, Paul writes: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Cor. 12:4-6).
Thank God for the unique contribution you can offer as you help and serve others.
Dear Lord, thank You for the unique way that You have gifted me. Help me to use my gifts faithfully to serve You and others.
Each person is a unique expression of God's loving design.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage was written to a group of people who were celebrating the value of some gifts over others. The apostle Paul makes three points to convince the church at Corinth that all gifts are of equal value: They all come from the same source—the Spirit (vv. 4, 11); they are not a reflection of the person but of the Spirit, and each person receives the gift that the Spirit determines (v. 11); and they all have the same purpose—the “common good” of the church (v. 7).
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1 Corinthians 12:4-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[a] Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Unity and Diversity in One Body
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into[b] one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:4-14
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
1 Corinthians 12:4
Fifteen-year-old Wilson Bentley was captivated by the intricate beauty of snowflakes. He looked with fascination through an old microscope his mother had given him and made hundreds of sketches of their remarkable designs, but they melted too quickly to adequately capture their detail. Several years later, in 1885, he had an idea. He attached a bellows camera to the microscope and, after much trial and error, took his first picture of a snowflake. During his lifetime Bentley would capture 5,000 snowflake images and each one was a unique design. He described them as “tiny miracles of beauty” and “ice flowers.”
No two snowflakes are alike, yet all come from the same source. So it is with followers of Christ. We all come from the same Creator and Redeemer, yet we are all different. In God’s glorious plan He has chosen to bring a variety of people together into a unified whole, and He has gifted us in various ways. In describing the diversity of gifts to believers, Paul writes: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Cor. 12:4-6).
Thank God for the unique contribution you can offer as you help and serve others.
Dear Lord, thank You for the unique way that You have gifted me. Help me to use my gifts faithfully to serve You and others.
Each person is a unique expression of God's loving design.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage was written to a group of people who were celebrating the value of some gifts over others. The apostle Paul makes three points to convince the church at Corinth that all gifts are of equal value: They all come from the same source—the Spirit (vv. 4, 11); they are not a reflection of the person but of the Spirit, and each person receives the gift that the Spirit determines (v. 11); and they all have the same purpose—the “common good” of the church (v. 7).
...........................................
1 Corinthians 12:4-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[a] Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Unity and Diversity in One Body
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into[b] one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.