Daily Bible Verses for 8/19/2016

Bible Verse
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

Reading Notes
We have to remember that God has given all of us different spiritual gifts. Jesus Himself has given each believer a unique blend of spiritual gifts as He see’s fit, in order for all members of the body of Christ to function together as a cohesive whole. And we should recall Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, where he explained that not all people can have the same gifts, nor can believers within the church function separately from one another. We are all to use our gifts to help those in need around us, to help those who are lost and to edify the body of Christ which is the church. Just as our body is comprised of different systems performing different functions, so to believers have different spiritual gifts, which were meant to blend together to form a cohesive whole.

Our gifts, which were given to us by Jesus himself, are meant to work together as a whole, to make up the church. Not everyone can have the same gifts because God in His wisdom has made us each different. However, no matter what our gifts are they are meant to be used in love. This means that regardless of our gifts, we should put others before ourselves and remember that Christ is the head over the church. Therefore, we should not esteem one member of the body over the other, because of their gifts, or the positions they hold within the church. The church as one body looks to Jesus as our Lord, God and Savior. We must remember not to look at our gifts as the world does, by gauging outward appearance as to please or praise men. Rather, we are looking at the inward heart of a man who is in service to Christ Jesus our Lord.