Don’t worry. I’m not starting a series of blog posts on Spiritual Gifts. Although that’s always a good way to increase blog traffic and provoke comments. No rather I just want to focus on one – giving.
We’re told to “eagerly desire” spiritual gifts. I for one didn’t have giving on my list of ones to desire. Of course it’s not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, although it is included in Romans 12:8.
We tend to view giving as a bit of a chore, just another bill to be paid each month, most of the time completely unaware as the direct debit kicks in. But it seems Giving really is a Spiritual Gift, in the same category as healing, tongues, prophecy etc. Here are some reasons why that’s true:
- Giving appears as a Spiritual Gift in Romans 12:8
- God has given grace to the churches in Macedonia, that causes them to give (2 Cor 8:1-2)
- Paul urges the Corinthians to ‘excel’ in giving (2 Cor 8:7) – that’s the same language that Paul uses to describe Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor 14:12)
- Giving encourages the church
- We need to see giving as a Spiritual Gift
- We need to desire it and excel in it
I don’t know why, but for some reason I keep getting the tricky passages to preach at church… this time it was 



I’ve speaking at BSMS CU on Monday, that’s the Brighton and Sussex Medical School Christian Union to you… they’re studying parables at the moment, and have been asked to speak on 






