Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - July 21, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Balance
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” (1 Corinthians 12:1)
Through the years, I have made my periodic trips to the gym to get back in shape. On one such occasion after I joined a local gym, a trainer took me on a tour to show me the various machines and how they worked. (Some of them are a little difficult to figure out these days!)
One thing the trainer mentioned especially caught my attention. He explained that it is important to work out every part of your body so you have a balanced physique. To fail to do so, he said, causes imbalance. A person needs cardiovascular exercise as well as strength training.
As the trainer began to describe the importance of balance and how the entire body needed exercise and needed to be trained for good overall performance, I began to think about the body of Christ. We, too, need overall balance. And in our own personal lives as Christians, the key is balance.
In Romans 12, we find that God has distributed gifts of the Holy Spirit into the lives of believers for the benefit of the whole church. Because of the abuse of some, many have recoiled from these wonderful gifts that God has given. Some have seen the excesses and those who have gone too far in one direction with these gifts, and they think, “I don't want anything to do with that kind of activity.”
However, you can go too far in the other direction as well. The gifts of the Spirit are real, and they are available for Christians today. Not only should we be using them in our lives, but we also should be seeking the gift or gifts He has placed in our lives.
Copyright © 2008 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture quotation is taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
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