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The Lord has given His children great gifts. Among the greatest of these gifts are charisms, the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have gifts of prophecy, faith, ministry, teaching, exhortation, almsgiving, leadership, and mercy (Rm 12:6-8). None of us has all these gifts, but we have many of them � in addition to many other charisms. By the development and use of these gifts of the Spirit, we will have the power to do even greater works than Jesus did (Jn 14:12). This comes as a surprise to most people because Christians don't seem to be so gifted and powerful. We have been so weak as to let a culture of death develop and then dominate us � not because we are not gifted, but because we have not developed our gifts. As the Lord was giving us several opportunities to learn about our charisms and exercise them, we found excuse after excuse not to grow in His grace (see Lk 14:18ff). The Lord has made His children the most powerful people on earth. It is a tragedy when we don't try to develop our life-saving, world-changing gifts. Therefore, the Lord commands us: "Set your hearts on spiritual gifts" (1 Cor 14:1). |
