Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Broken, Scarred, but Useful" for Saturday, 6 September 2014 - Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Broken, Scarred, but Useful" for Saturday, 6 September 2014 - Read 1 Corinthians 12: Spiritual Gifts
1-3 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.
4-11 God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.(Romans 12:6 (NRSV))
Today I read a devotional in The Upper Room about a bus called “Special” that was used to take Honduran villagers to church. Even though it had a cracked windshield along with mechanical problems that couldn’t be fixed, it was used for an important purpose.
Then I thought about some of the people that I know — people who are less than perfect. I thought of Joel, the pianist who is blind but who can stir people with his beautiful music; of the lady whom some people regard as strange but who offers her time to pray for others; and of the boy with Down’s Syndrome who seems to know when someone is suffering and offers them hugs, even though his words are difficult to understand.
None of us is perfect. But just as God uses the bus called Special and people regarded as strange or disabled by human standards, God can use us for divine purposes. Broken busses, people with mental or physical disabilities — God calls each of us to special service in this world.
The Author: Phyllis S. Church (Kentucky)
Thought for the Day: Where we see only imperfection, God sees perfection.
Prayer: Lead us, O Lord, to awareness of our purpose in this life. Open our eyes to opportunities for service right where we are, with whatever skills we have. Amen.
Prayer focus: People who cope with disability
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