I Corinthians 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
Serve in Harmony
The older I get, the more biased I become about what people do and how they do it. All of us have a tendency to think in terms of our own gifting and position. It is very hard to look at someone doing a different job and value that job, or to see someone doing the same job but doing it in a different way. We tend to judge everyone else by our own particular gifting.
In any event, I Corinthians 12 reminds us of both the diversity and the unity of what God has created. Verse 4 says, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” You and I are probably gifted in different ways, but we have been gifted by the same Person, the Spirit of God. Verses 5-6 say, “And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Notice the reference to what is difference and to what is the same.
Here on the Bill Rice Ranch we have a wide variety of people doing different jobs every single day. It would be really self-serving for me to say, “There are two ways you can serve the Lord here: you can serve by being in my position or by serving people in my position.” Well, that is the wrong way to look at it. All of us are serving the same God. We may be serving in different positions, but there are more than two ways to serve God. There are many ways, and all for the same purpose.
We don’t harmonize because we serve the same way; we harmonize because we serve the same Lord. When you sing in a choir, not everyone sings the same part. Sometimes you might get pulled off of your part by listening too much to someone singing another part. Likewise, we sometimes wish we were gifted the way someone else if gifted. I need not worry about what other people have that I don’t, and I don’t need to judge other people by my gift.
It is easy to say about someone, “Well, he is a good worker, but he just doesn’t know how to preach.” Not everyone is called to preach, but everyone is called to serve. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” If you and I are both being guided by the Holy Spirit of God, we are a lot more likely to work together in harmony than we would otherwise.
So, Who is guiding you today? The Bible says there are “differences of administrations, but the same Lord.” If I am being ruled by the same Lord that is ruling you, there are going to be differences in our service. However, we will find our loyalty and submission to the same Person, and that will affect the way we interact with each other.
“There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” If God is empowering me and He is empowering you, He would not empower us to do things that are at odds with His will. We need to be guided, ruled, and empowered by the same God regardless of the way He has gifted us. We serve in harmony when we serve the same God.