1 Corinthians 1:7

so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ ~1 Corinthians 1:7

We are continuing to look at how any of these first nine verses in 1 Corinthians 1 could be used to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people we encounter every day. I encourage you to choose a verse at a time and memorize it that you might be equipped to share God's love through His Word wherever you may be. The journey God has you on may go across the world, or across your street. Either way, be ready to share the hope that lies within you. (1 Peter 3:15)

-what does it mean to be lacking? To not have enough  to feel like you're always falling short, or stretched too thin. When someone fills in the areas where we lack then we have sufficiency, or even abundance. If the person I am sharing the Gospel with feels that they are always lacking, how might I share with them the abundance of grace that is in Christ? I might talk about the various gifts Jesus has given me, like mercy, peace, and love. Or I might talk about the Spiritual gifts He has given me like the gift of teaching or the gift of encouragement and how He gives these gifts not for my benefit, but that I might use them to edify the body of Christ - His people.

-I also want to share with others something about waiting for God to reveal His plan. In this verse in 1 Corinthians, Paul is reminding the people that when Christ returns He will be revealed as the conquering Messiah, and that God had given them all the things necessary for their wait. God has also given us all the things we need today to wait. While it can be so easy to confuse wants with needs, God gives us what we need so that we are not lacking. Take a look around you: do you see food, water, shelter? Then you have been given so much, your life is sufficiently filled - you are not lacking - when you add in the mercy and grace that God offers each one of us, then you have abundance. Stop looking at your life through the world's eyes and start looking at it as God sees you before and after you accept Christ- first - a sinner in need of a Savior. Once we accept Christ's atoning work on the cross, we go from lacking, to abundance. Clean, forgiven, set-free!

-God is going to reveal our Lord Jesus Christ in a  big way. In the meantime, while we wait, He is revealing small things to us each and every day. He shows us our next step, and He gives us good works to do to share His love with other people. 

-The gift of forgiveness God the Father offers to each and every person through faith in Jesus Christ is a gift that provides all we need - for this life, and the eternal one to come.

To see any of the first six verses, click on the orange Scripture Writing label below.