“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office... having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.”
The Body
Paul returns here to the body image this book opened with, but now specifically applied to differing gifts, many members, not the same office, gifts differing according to grace given. This is not a flaw in the body’s design, requiring correction toward uniformity, but the actual, intended shape genuine ministry within community takes.
This matters because it is easy to quietly assume your own particular gift is less significant than someone else’s more visible or celebrated gift, comparing rather than simply stewarding what you have actually, specifically been given. Paul’s language here assumes genuine difference, not ranking, gifts differing, not gifts graded by relative importance.
This should relieve any pressure to possess someone else’s gift instead of your own, or to feel diminished because your own particular gift looks different from another’s more visible ministry. According to the grace that is given to us names your own gift as genuinely, specifically yours, not a lesser version of someone else’s.
Consider today your own specific gift, without comparison to another’s differing gift, and steward it today, specifically, according to the grace actually given to you, not envying a different grace given to someone else, but genuinely, faithfully exercising the gift that is, specifically, actually your own.
Strengthen the Body
- Name your own specific gift, without comparing it to another’s differing gift.
- Exercise it today, specifically, according to the actual grace given to you.
- Release any envy of a different gift given to someone else in your community.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the specific gift you have given me, differing from others, not lesser. Let me steward it faithfully today, without comparison or envy. Amen.
Carry this today
Gifts differing, not gifts ranked. Your own gift is genuinely, specifically yours.