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Been reading again 1 Corinthians 12 this morning
12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Unity and Diversity in the Body
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
All of us have a role to fulfill in the work of God's Kingdom and in the building of His Church.
So glad God doesn't expect me to do it all. I often get anxious about what I am not able to do, indeed, people often like to remind you of your inadequacies, but God never expected one person to have and do it all. It is only as a group, fellowship, community that together we have the anointing to reflect the person of Christ, to be His body in the culture and community where we are living.
We are going to need everyone's input as we begin to recover and reconstruct for the future, we all have something to offer. At present we are looking for the best ways to communicate, online, offline etc, to give ourselves the opportunity to listen, the Lord will guide us.
As we bring out gifts the context of loving grace is vital. In 1 Cor 13 Paul reminds us that all the gifting is worthless if not rooted in love.
By personality and circumstance some will be wanting to press on with things, get back to normal, grab hold of every minute and opportunity; others will want to reflect , listen and learn, emerge gradually as they feel safe and secure to do so. We will need grace with each other, draw from one another's strengths, for all together we are the body.
We have had lessons in stopping, maybe now we will learn lessons in grace. We say we are a loving fellowship, this will now be tested and hopefully our love and depth of fellowship and appreciation of one another will go deeper.
Today why not take a little time ( we did this at family devotion this morning), pray for your loved ones and then communicate to them the gifts that you see God has given them, what an encouragement that will be!