1 Corinthians Chapter 3: Verses 1-2 (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
1 Corinthians Chapter 1: Verses 5-7 (NIV)
For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
2 Timothy Chapter 1: Verse 6 (NIV)
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
The Corinthian Church had a lot going for it. At the beginning of Paul’s letter, we read that they had been blessed with gifts of speech and knowledge. But in other ways they were not yet spiritually mature enough to use those gifts, which we see in chapter three. Paul recognised that they were not yet ready to progress spiritually at that point because there was division in the Church which would have tainted the use of their gifts.
Sometimes when God bestows on us a particular gift or calling, we must begin to exercise that gift, or begin to walk on that road immediately. At other times, there is a time of preparation for us before we can do so. We’re not yet ready. That can be for any number of reasons. We need to recognise if there is a time of waiting, and not run ahead of God, until the time is right. Until, just like Paul told Timothy, we sense the time is right for us to fan into flame the gift that God has given us.
But we need to be careful, not just in our own lives. If we recognise that a younger Christian (either in age or in faith) has been given a particular calling, we also need to be careful not to push them in it, unless God tells us to. They might not yet be spiritually mature enough to handle it at this time. Our role should be to encourage and support them to ensure that they get to the place to be able to exercise it. And like the Corinthians we need to remember not to get big headed, we are ambassadors of Christ. The gifts we have received have been given by grace, so we have nothing of ourselves in which we can boast. As custodians of the gifts we have been given, we need to be careful to conduct our own lives in a way that will not deflect any glory away from the One who gave them to us.
Dear Lord,
Help me to remember that as a Christian, my behaviour needs to reflect my faith, so that I can be an instrument for Your Glory, not mine, or any one else’s. I don’t follow a person, other that Christ Himself, and I must be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Amen.