Devotion - Tuesday, Nov 3

After finishing his thoughts on love, Paul turns his attention in I Corinthians 14 to the spiritual gifts which build up the Church.

He celebrates those who receive the gift of speaking in tongues, but he points out that this gift uplifts the one who receives it. On the other hand, those with the gift of prophesy uplift the whole Church.

“Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

Those who prophesy speak God’s word to the current context. The gift of prophesy is the ability to see as God would see and to feel as God would feel. Paul wants everyone to see this gift.

One might see this as an overachieving of the slogan popular a few years back, “What Would Jesus Do?” It is a full blown attempt to articulate how God would speak to what is happening.

Speaking with God’s voice is difficult. It is tricky. It is arrogant. When speaking with God’s voice, there will be those who oppose. Some will oppose because they are opposed to God. Other will oppose because they perceive a different word from God.

Perhaps we have come to misunderstand the spiritual gift of prophesy as some sort of prediction of the future because only time will tell us who it was that spoke God’s Word. And, truly, it is only time which will let us know.

But this should not deter us from making use of the gift. Paul reminds us, in I Corinthians 14, to seek this gift and to put it into practice. We must overcome the timidity which allows so many of God’s people to remain silent when there is a clear need (and many opportunities) to speak God’s Word.