I saw two little boys fighting, punching kicking – anger in their eyes. “It’s mine, it’s mine”, they cry. The boys grow and still they fight, never learning to share and to give of what they have to one another. And the Lord asks, ‘Why, O why, must my people squabble and fight for the gifts I give them? They are for everyone – not to be held, but to be given. It is time to let go of the selfishness of the days in which you live. Have I not given gifts to all, for the use and benefit of all? Beloved, they work through love, love, love – there is no better, nor higher, way. Give and it shall be given to you – pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.