Discussing Spiritual Gifts the other morning, I started thinking about my own Grace Gifts. It got me wondering about the Corinthians, and their not so unique problem.
What use are the gifts of the spirit? Ok, healing someone is pretty cool, but even then. That is a pretty heavy responsibility if you heal the wrong person? Or at the wrong time?
Let me put it in context… about this time, a year ago, my son broke his arm, but where he broke it would actually require surgery. It was the worst possible time. No medical coverage, broke as can be, and our car just blew out something expensive. I’d say it was the PERFECT time for a miracle healing… but none came.
What did come was grace. And other miracles.
We ended up in a state hospital, where we were directed to a russian doctor in triage. Both my wife and I speak russian, and we connected to her, but already knowing that it was a wild weekend and that there was literally no beds open in the hospital.
She asked us to wait and returned some time later, informing us that she has him checked in, into the ONLY bed available, a baby cot in the emergency ward. We got to the bed, and it was literally a cot. So small that he could not lie down in it unless he pulled up his legs to his chest. Then we waited.
A few times an orderly came and asked why we were there, obviously knowing that we are in the wrong place, but leaving us there nonetheless. Until paramedics stormed in with a two year old hit-and-run victim… the orderlies were arguing with the paramedics that there was no space in the hospital. Nobody said so, but my son had the girls bed.
I turned to him, and started explaining what happened to her, and without a hesitation, he said that she must take his place, the bed and the line for surgery. I have never been more proud of my son than that moment.
As it turned out, she couldn’t take his bed because they started emergency surgery right there a few moment later. Three steps away, 6 doctors were working feverishly to save a life and the mother sitting in the only available chair next to my son’s bed. We prayed for that girl, we prayed for the doctors and the nurses and we prayed for the paramedics that brought her in. We prayed for the mother, and at some point, I opened my eyes and saw my son’s hand on her shoulder, next to mine.
That night we also prayed for a lady who lost someone. We couldn’t figure out who, she just came and sat there in shock. Some people came and spoke to her, we all prayed together, each in his own language, and she moved away with them. This went on until about midnight, when we finally got a slot in the surgery queue.
I went in with him, and he was ok. Calm, not stressed, and the surgeons were discussing wether they must use two pins or two pins with a plate. As they ushered me out to the waiting area, I heard the one doctor say that he first wants to try something. Long story short, no pins, no plates and today you will be hard pressed to show me where they were working on him, either on his arm or on an x-ray.
Now… although my son drives me up the proverbial wall some days, God showed me something about the character that little guy has deep down. And I believe that God revealed a few things to him there as well.
1 Peter 4:8 says:
“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins”
And verse 10:
“Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many colored tapestry of God’s grace.”
Spiritual gifts are cool, but they are just tools. What use are they if not used in love? Some days, being there, and carrying the groceries or bringing in a cup of coffee are worth a lot more than a prophetic word.
That night, none of my “corinthian” gifts meant anything to anybody, but the night was definitely not wasted (on the contrary), and both my son and I could serve what we had in love. Maybe God’s only way to get us there was to temporarily break an arm?
So, like Peter says… If your gift uses your mouth, let your mouth always speak as if God is speaking through you, and if your gift uses your hands, let your hands serve passionately. And when you use the gifts, do this with only the Strength God gives you, so that ONLY God will be glorified…
