THE BEST GIFTS

“And in any event, you should desire
the most helpful gifts…”
I Corinthians 12:31
New Living Translation

The Apostle Paul spent a considerable amount of time instructing the Corinthian church about the importance of each part of the body and each spiritual gift. The Corinthian believers were intrigued by the special abilities or ‘grace gifts’ given to each one by the Spirit. They put more attention and focus on the spectacular or ‘showy’ gifts rather than understanding that each gift was an important aspect of helping the body to be healthy.
Are some gifts better than others? After an entire chapter of explaining that each part plays a specific role and the diversity of gifts, does it make sense for Paul now to tell the Corinthians to seek the best gifts? Not really. So, exactly what is Paul saying?
The King James version says, ‘covet earnestly the best gifts.’ Covet means to ‘pursue; to desire one earnestly, to strive after, busy one's self about him; to exert one's self for one (that he may not be torn from me).’ The Corinthians were instructed to pursue the gifts that were the most helpful. Since the Spirit gives the gift as he wills, each individual believer must know the importance and significance of their endowment and pursue, develop and mature in it to ensure the health of the body of Christ.
Each believer is placed and positioned in the body of Christ by His sovereignty. The best gift for you is the one that God has bestowed upon you! When each part does its own special work, ‘it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love’ (Ephesians 4:16).
If Paul meant that we all should seek one or two gifts in particular, then the body still would not be healthy. Why? Because it would not really be a body with several different parts working interdependently. It would be just an eye or just a leg or just an ear! It takes all the different parts to make the body a body and to make it healthy and cause it to grow.
It is vital for each believer to discover and know their part, placement and endowment in the body of Christ. Each one and every part of the body is significant, important and vital to the growth and health of the body of Christ. You can seek a spiritual gift from God and be zealous after it by seeking to develop that area. God may give you that as a spiritual gift, but He may also feel that you are better fit to serve Christ with a different gift. Trust and be content with the sovereignty and wisdom of the head of the body, Christ!