Romans 12 part II

Ok so it's time to get back to Romans. In the first 3 verses we saw that Gods will is that our minds be transformed to be aligned with His and not with the worlds. Now lets look at verses 4-8. This first part of this addresses that we are all one body in Christ and just like in your bodies each part of the body has its own function and each of these functions is necessary for the body to function as designed, we need to find our identity in the body and fully embrace it and not try to be something we weren't designed to be. Sometimes when we are finding where we fit we may experiment and try to be other things but once we identify our place in the body we need to be the best at what we were designed to be and need to stop being something we are not.

In the New Testament there are three lists of gifts, the two we hear the most about are the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12) and the gifts that Jesus gave to the church (Eph. 4:11,12) which is referred too by many as the 5-fold ministry. Here in Romans we have the third list which are the gifts that come from the Father some call these our redemptive gifts, essentially these gifts are how He made us to function in our everyday lives. These gifts define who we are and how we fit in the body. So wether you are a finger, an ear or an elbow fully accept how He made you. Abba doesn't make mistakes He has a plan and a vision and a mission for you and when you function per His design these things will be fulfilled and so will you.

Romans 12:4-8 - For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use, So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]. Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: [He whose gift is] prophecy, [let him prophesy] according to the proportion of his faith; [He whose gift is] practical service, let him give himself to serving; he who teaches, to his teaching; He who exhorts (encourages), to his exhortation; he who contributes, let him do it in simplicity and liberality; he who gives aid and superintends, with zeal and singleness of mind; he who does acts of mercy, with genuine cheerfulness and joyful eagerness.