Spiritual Gifts and the Church (part 9): 1 Cor 12:11

"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills." (1 Corinthians 12:11)

Each of us are meant to be different. We are not all the same; our gifts, favor, role, and working are all different. God has chosen that His Body should be made up of individual parts, each different from the other. Unfortunately, we sometimes fret over not being like other people. We ask, "Why did God make me this way?" and "Why cannot I be like so and so?" In doing so, we fail to understand that it is God who "distributes to each one individually just as He wills."

There is an interesting story that Jesus told about a fig tree in a vineyard.

"A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)

While there is a lot that could be said about this passage, what I find most curious is, "what is a fig tree doing in a vineyard?" A vineyard is for grape vines, so what is a fig tree doing there?

Truth be told, I have often felt like a fig tree in a vineyard; not fitting in, out of place, different than the others. At times I have wondered why God made me the way He did. However, reflecting on this parable I began to realize why the fig tree was there and why the vineyard-keeper showed so much concern for it, it was because the master plated it there. It was the master that planted the fig tree in the vineyard; for what ever reason, he willed it to be there, it was his doing. In the same way, the reason we are who we are is because the Master made us that way; we are who we are because He willed it to be so. We are who and what the Master has made us to be, and we should rejoice in that.

More to come... David Robison