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Paul devoted much of this letter to answering questions that the believers in Corinth had sent to him. While instructing them about how the gifts of the Spirit should be utilized in public worship, Paul used the human body as an illustration of why believers are so different from each other—and why that's a very good thing.

1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 12-18, 27

1. What is the source (v. 4) of the spiritual gifts ("special abilities" in verse 1) each of us have been given?
   
   
2. For what purpose (v. 7) have we received our gifts(s)?
   
   
3. Do differences in our backgrounds or how we're gifted (vv. 12-13) diminish our value to the body of Christ?
   
   
4. Why would taking pride in one's gift (vv. 14-17) be out of place?
   
   
5. If you understand the body concept, can you look down on those who appear less important?
   
   
6. Why (v. 18) does each person need to accept his assigned service role and situation?
   
   
7. Why is it also wrong (v. 27) to say you have nothing to offer?
   
   
8. What should keep me from becoming jealous of those with more visible gifts?
   
   

Ask God to use the special ability He's given you to build up His church.

1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 12-18, 27

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me derive my sense of worth from Your love for me and not from what the world considers important.

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