"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit... To each person has been given the ability to manifest the Spirit for the common good." - 1Co 12:4,7
God is good to every one. We can hardly find anything among His creation whose reason for being or whose activity for survival is good only for itself. For example, the mere act of breathing which is primarily done for personal survival produces by-product gases which impact another organism. The carbon dioxide that we breathe out is food for trees while the oxygen that trees "breathe out" during photosynthesis is in turn what we need to breathe in.
Think about it then in terms of what we have in us. Why are we good at something? Is it only for our own benefit? Did God give us gifts so that we can be enriched tremendously but only for our own good? Hardly, isn't it? Our wise God created something but always in relation to another. Whatever gift we have as a person is given to us by the Spirit of God (vv. 4-6) so that we can use it, yes for ourselves, but also for the common good (v. 7). In the process of taking care of us, God so designed the process that we need to interact with one another and mutually benefit from that interaction. No one for one, but always for the many.
Don't we miss these subtleties in the work of God sometimes? We can get so busy with our own concerns that we hardly think about others and how we can impact them. As a safeguard, the Lord also put things in place so that even if we don't give some things much thought, eventually His purposes will be served. But then there's also reminders to make us aware. And Paul is doing just that thing so that we don't remain uninformed (v. 1). Additionally, God chose not to lump everything into one person so that no one can become self-contained and totally independent. Otherwise, we end up with the same curse of not caring for each other for we don't need anything from anyone. But since there will always be something that we need from someone, we avoid being arrogant, snobbish, and uncaring. Great is the work of God in all creation!
This passage should make us think deeply about the things that we have - our skills, our resources, our time, etc. This is a reminder for us to live with mindfulness, mindful of ourselves to discover what we are capable of and mindful of others to consider how we can be of use for the common good. May the Lord bless that which He had given us as gifts so that they can be multiplied even more through good use.
