April 2020

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord
(1 Corinthians 1:4-9).

In our Vocational Preparation Bible course with seniors (which continues to meet over Zoom as students are dispersed across the country), we were recently discussing how to steward our talents for Christ. When we become members of the body of Christ, the talents God has given us take on new significance. The Holy Spirit “breathes” on them, as it were, to hone, develop, and deploy those talents for the advancement of Jesus Christ’s wonderful purposes. Our talents are like puzzle pieces that—however impressive (or unimpressive) on their own—become increasingly beautiful as the Holy Spirit fits them into the glorious story of God in Christ.

This grand vision that the Apostle Paul has of spiritual gifts (as we can see in passages such as
1 Corinthians 1:4-9) makes little sense from an individualistic viewpoint. In isolation, we are indeed lacking in many gifts. Our weakness often overwhelms our strengths. But Paul can say in verses 5 and 6, “in every way you were enriched in him … so that you are not lacking in any gift.” Every occurrence of “you” in this passage is plural. It is not individuals, but a whole church (the Corinthian church, in this case) which Paul considers to be “not lacking in any gift.”

As a church, there is no point at which we can rightfully say, “We can’t accomplish what God has for us to do because he hasn’t given us sufficient gifts.” It may be true that we don’t have sufficient resources to accomplish what we want to accomplish, and that alone we are inadequate. But God always graciously provides to believers, collectively, the gifts we need to accomplish what he wants us to accomplish. This holds true no matter how crazy our circumstances may become.

Lord, what would you have us accomplish in our current challenging contexts and upturned communities? Please show your church the way forward, and continue to graciously sustain us so that we might accomplish your glorious purposes.

Lord, please bless the Stanford students we serve. Enrich them in Christ in all speech and all knowledge, that they might bless those in their virtual and physical landscape.

And Lord, please bless the leaders of Stanford University and of our local and national governments. Give them wisdom for incredibly challenging decisions in incredibly challenging times.

We are so grateful to God for your partnership through prayer.

Warmly,

Justin Woyak
Ministry Fellow
Christian Union Caritas

Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work, please email prayer@christianunion.org.