IBS Application for Romans 12:6

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith...”

Paul, in this passage, exhorts the church to make use of the gifts of grace that all who are in Christ have received. We’ve been called to participate in the use of these gifts as part of the body of Christ. Each of us has received gifts unique to us that we are to use appropriately, according to our faith and our place in the body.

While we don’t have the full list here, in this one verse, we have the start of the list: some have been given the gift of prophecy. Paul goes on to list the others: service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership and mercy. Prior to this list is the exhortation to act as a body as it regards our gifts. He states that no individual member of the body ought to think more highly of themselves than the others, because one member of a body cannot act as a body unto itself. Likewise, if we act apart from the other members of the church, we try to serve as the whole body of Christ as if we were a foot or a hand trying to do the things that other parts of the human body were made for. It simply isn’t possible.

We ought not to try to be anything other than what God has designed us for. To do so would be doing a disservice to Christ and to our brothers and sisters. We seek to take away from Christ’s glory and quench the Holy Spirit’s work in others when we do this. Our brothers cannot grow in the Spirit and as a member of the body when someone else who is ill-equipped to handle a certain area of ministry invades the work God has called them to do. And the body of Christ suffers for it as a result.

Each of us here in Ignite Class 14 has been called to a specific purpose in the body of Christ, as a class and as teams who are going to be sent to our field locations. Though we each have different gifts, we’re all meant to work together within each of these spheres of service not only as individuals, but as cohesive units that reflect the example of Christ. We may not be made the same, but we are united in our purpose to serve as members of the body of Christ.

My application in response to this truth will be to pray more often (at least for the next three days) that God will continue to grow me in the spiritual gifts He’s granted me to better serve Him by serving the rest of the Church, my class, and my team. I’ll make an attempt to respond more willingly when I feel God compelling me to make use of my gifts, too. Over this three day period, I’ll also pray in the mornings when I wake up and in the evenings before I go to bed that God would work in the hearts of my classmates in the same way I am going to pray that He will work in me, to grow them in their gifts for service and unity.