The Quiet Hand
Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Someone was in the church kitchen before sunrise today. No one saw them come in. No one will ask their name.
Meanwhile, someone else will stand up front this week, and everyone's eyes will follow them the whole time. That's just how it goes — the visible gifts get remembered, and the quiet ones get forgotten. Paul knew this ache was already alive in the Roman church before he ever wrote down a single gift.
But look closely at the order he lists them in. Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, mercy. The ones that stand in front and the ones that work behind are laced together, taking turns, all the way down the list. If Paul had wanted to rank the gifts by importance, this is not how he would have written it.
And just one verse earlier, he'd already reached for a picture that makes the point even sharper — a body, and all its different parts. We see our own face every day, in every mirror we pass. We have never once, in our whole lives, seen our own heart.
That's the turn. But which one is actually keeping us alive?
