Lacking Nothing

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LACKING NOTHING

1 Cor 1:4-9

4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way — in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

NIV

Having been given the grace of Jesus Christ, that is His divine influence upon us and that has enriched us in every way, which is every aspect of our life, we also notice that we do not lack any spiritual gift as we eagerly wait for Jesus to be revealed. It is interesting in the Greek the way this not lacking is expressed. It is that we will not come behind, or be late, tardy, in any spiritual gift. This gives a clear picture that God does not show any favoritism in any aspect of our lives. That is no one is left behind when it comes to spiritual gifts, we all have them equally. It is true that we struggle at times trying to figure out just exactly what gift God wants to use through us and maybe that is just the point, he is the one who decides and he can use any of His gifts at any time in any way in anyone. We just have to be willing for Him to work in and through us. His spiritual gifts will be given, and we will not be lacking in any of them. But, then again, there seems to be a qualifier on not lacking any spiritual gift. We must eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus to be revealed. This Greek word translated as revealed can also be seen as manifested, or appearance. This could be seen then as eagerly waiting for the coming, the appearance in the sky, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eagerly, or to wait fully, to assiduously (showing great care and perseverance) and patiently to wait for his return. This looks to be the key to spiritual gifts. If we are not eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, then it would seem that we are way too invested in the things of the world. If we are not totally living in expectation of that day he is revealed, or his coming or appearing in the sky, then we are most likely lacking in spiritual gifts. So what does eagerly waiting look like? As we have been thinking, it certainly looks like not being too invested in the things of the world. When we spend too much time planning for our own future, or too much time being concerned about how we live, that is what kind of house, clothes, car, or other things we have, or how much we give, or what we are doing then maybe that has something to do with this being too invested in the world. It is hard to put an exact handle on how that looks as we do need to have certain things in this world to survive, so to speak. We do need a house, clothes, car, food and other things. Those things require the use of funds, and we have to spend a fair amount of time in the accumulation of those funds for the world does not just give them to us, we must purchase them. Maybe this eagerly waiting has more to do with our priorities, or how we approach all these things we need to live. Maybe it is still this too invested thing, which is those things become the focus of our attention, rather than the day that Jesus comes for us. Although we talk about how wonderful heaven will be, we actually do not know how it will be, it is still in some sense the unknown and the path to it is through death, unless he comes very, very soon, while we are still alive. Death is still, in a certain sense an unknown, although we believe in death we are absent from our body and thus present with our Lord. However, the point being is that what we have in the here and now is known and maybe we become too invested in that which we know and are not as eager to find out that which we might think of as the unknown. We know Jesus is real, we know God is real, we know all the scripture is true and inspired by God and thus we know everything that is to come is our reality and so we have to wait with eager anticipation of our being in his presence. In the meantime we occupy, we do that which we must, but this is not in any way as important as our relationship with our Lord, and He is the focus of our lives, and so we lack nothing concerning spiritual gifts.