February 19, 2023

My vegetable garden is looking pretty good. However, yesterday, I noticed I was missing three okra plants; there was no sign that anything had eaten them, and no dead plant was lying there. I’m not sure what happened to them. I have a few plants that I can move to replace them because I want the whole bed to be complete. Because the okra plants are missing, they aren’t going to produce anything, so I must replace them and put an active plant in their place. The Bible tells us that each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good and that the body does not consist of one member but of many, and those members have different gifts but the same Spirit. I believe that if you don’t use your gifts for the common good and they are missing from the body or are laying dormant within you, God will find someone who has the same gift who will use it to benefit the church, thus replacing you like my empty spots in the garden where my three okra plants disappeared. The church needs you to stay active in your gifting so it stays healthy and works as God intended.

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11