Day #8: Special and Gifted.

[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]

What you will need: 

• A Bible
• This Devotional
• Some Coloring Utensils
• And a print out of this awesome coloring sheet designed by Nic Mansfield (Instagram and twitter)(Here is the week #1 sheet)

Theme: Origins

Passage for March 8th 2017: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Bars from “D.R.A.M. Sings Special”

You are very special
You're special too
Everyone is special
This I know is true
When I look at you
You are very special
You're special too
Everyone is special
This I know is true
When I look at you

A Thought:

This summer I launched an experience at our Church that invited a group of interns to ask the question, “am I called into vocational ministry?” Intuitively, I knew unity was going to be vital in helping their discernment, but, in that this was the first year we ran the experience, I didn’t know how that would come about. In light of today’s passage, it doesn’t surprise me this process began taking place as we started looking at each person’s strengths. We found that as we discovered each person particularity, God’s Spirit unified the team. 

Like the interns, God invites us all into the common work of restoring God’s world for the better. And the wonderful news is that no matter where someone comes from, what they have done or what they have gone through, no one is excluded from what God is doing. Out of God’s great love God gives gifts, graciously for everyone to use in God’s mission. 1 Corinthians 12 makes it explicit that these come from God’s Spirit. The same Spirit we read about the past 2 days in Genesis. The Spirt that formed the world out of chaos. The same Spirt that was breathed into our our bodies made of dust. 

“Spirit” is how God is identified when God is creating, ordering, leading, directing and restoring. The connection of God’s gifts with God’s Spirit show us what these gifts are supposed to do. To use the language of Genesis, they are our God given tools to aid us in tending God’s garden. Every person’s gifts are particular to them and help accomplish different ends, but the diversity of gifts, doesn’t divide in God’s community. The text says it actually does the opposite… it unites. As we recognize people “specialness,” we recognize the same Spirit at work in us. And as we do this we see another person co-working with God toward the restoration of all things.

So here are the questions I am contemplating today: What in Paul list of gifts do I identify with? How can I use those gifts to help God’s Kingdom advance in the world? Who are the people in my community I need to tell today that they are special?

Mediation: Psalm 139:13-14

Read the whole passage through once and pick a phrase that is sticking out to you. As you meditate on that phrase, thank God for the way God has made you. If you are feeling bold, share the mediation on social media today with the #mycoloringbookforhisgreatness so we can follow along.