AFTER THE PENTECOST, WHAT NEXT? (5)

“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:1 NKJV)

Growth is an important part of human life and progress on earth. Lack of growth in people or in any human enterprise is often a cause of concern to those concerned.  Parents take care of their children and expect them to grow. When they fail to grow as expected it creates anxiety and worry in them. Business people expect their businesses to grow and when they do not, it causes deep concerns. Teachers apply best practices available to them in teaching their students and expect them to grow in knowledge, when they fail to grow and keep failing exams, the teachers are deeply disturbed. God has endowed us with His divine nature and equipped us with spiritual gifts to enable us to grow spiritually; when we fail to grow, it embarrasses Him and hinders our experience of His blessings. The book of Hebrews captures the perplexity of God’s heart due to lack of spiritual growth in His children.

¹¹There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. ¹²You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. ¹³For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. ¹⁴Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. (Hebrews 5:12-14 NLT)

One truth therefore stands out very clearly, namely, God wants us to grow in our understanding and application of spiritual gifts in the service of the kingdom.  He installed in us everything necessary to drive that growth and will therefore hold us accountable for our failure to grow.

Here then is the question; why do many Spirit-filled believers fail to grow in their knowledge and application of spiritual gifts in spite of the fact that God’s grace abounds to facilitate such growth?  The answer has to do with the type of operating system that is running their lives. The human mind is like the operating system of a computer unit.  What a computer can do depends on the operating system that is installed in it. Similarly, human life and experience on earth is generally determined by the kind of mindset each person has. There are basically two types of mindset –fixed mindset and growth mindset. People with fixed mindset believe that spiritual gifts and our experiences of them are determined by divine fiat, allowing no room for believers to make any input. They believe whatever gift one has is predetermined by God and that any experience one has of such gifts is fixed.   For example, if God gives one the gift of prophecy then the person has it and if God does not give one such a gift, there nothing the person can ever do to possess it. For people like this, growth in the things of the Spirit is determined by God. If this position is true, why should God ask us to earnestly desire for the best gifts?

On the other hand, growth mindset believes that God does indeed give people spiritual gifts but that He also allows room for Spirit-filled believers to participate in creating their spiritual experiences. Hence, He commands us to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”  Desire is an intensely private experience. Its basic meaning is “a longing or craving for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment.”  It is to express a wish to obtain what one lacks or what one considers valuable. People with growth mindset are outstanding for their hunger for deeper spiritual experiences. Their desire for more is what drives their growth and puts them ahead of others. God does not show partiality. He is committed to satisfying the desires of His children. The Psalmist declared, “He grants the desires of those who fear him; He hears their cries for help and rescues them” (Psalm 145:19 NLT). This makes us key stakeholders in our acquisition and experience of spiritual gifts. We must desire for them.

God’s demand for us to “earnestly desire the best gifts,” is His invitation Ato us to grow in our experience of spiritual gifts. He wants us to grow from having “the good” to “the best” gifts. As far as God is concerned, you can have the best He can afford if you so wish.  Growth mindset espoused the truism that your desire drives your growth in the spirit. May the Spirit of God stir us up to desire for more of God and of His gifts only to be satisfied when we awake in His likeness in Jesus’ name.