Spiritual or Gifted
Good Morning,
Most of us have seen someone or heard of someone who was supposed to be a, “good Christian,” who lived a life that denied their profession.
David took another man’s wife and had her husband killed, and Peter denied the Lord three times in one night. These Christians failed to live up to their so-called faith. A television evangelist was arrested with prostitutes, another embezzled money from a church group: many stories could be told.
Looking at the Scriptures, we can find some of the answers. Summarized, we might say, gifts and abilities do not mean a person is spiritual.
Paul writes to the people of the church in Corinth:
1 Corinthians 1:5 “That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;”
vs. 7 “So that ye come behind in no gift…”
Here we see people who possessed spiritual gifts, knowledge of spiritual things, and the ability to communicate those truths. These people were behind no one with it came to spiritual gifts.
Yet two chapters later, to the same group, Paul said:
1 Corinthians 3:1 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.”
These people with spiritual gifts were not spiritual but carnal, and they were babes in Christ. God gives people amazing gifts, but to say they are surrendered to Christ, or led of the Spirit is, obviously, another story. Great abilities with music, athletics, organizational abilities, or detailed minds are gifts from God; but that does not mean they are godly people.
The Corinthian people esteemed spiritual gifts, but they had moral trouble, legal trouble, division, and other problems. Paul’s first letter to this church was almost entirely full of correction, yet the people boasted of their spiritual gifts.
Often, we, too quickly, call someone spiritual because of what we see. Samuel was a great man, but he failed in this area when he went looking for the new king to replace Saul. Samuel saw the oldest son of Jesse and thought to himself that this had to be the Lord’s anointed. Anointed? From outward appearances, Samuel thought this guy was anointed with the Holy Spirit? This is where the famous verse about a man looking on the outward appearance and God looking on the heart comes from.
We can be quick to eliminate ourselves from service for the Lord for the same reason. Do you remember what Moses said when God told him to speak to Pharaoh? Moses told God that he could not speak well. God responded, “Who made man’s mouth?” God can use any mouth He wants to use.
Our outward gifts and appearances are tools to use, but they do not define spiritual living. God can use anyone He desires to use. Our goal should be to walk in the Spirit, to be “spiritual,” and to allow God to use what we are and what we have, though the world may not see any great spiritual gifts.
For this reason, we must put our faith in the Lord and not in man. Men will fail us; God never fails.
Pastor