Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. [For] those who prophesy speak to other people for their building up and encouragement and consolation.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, May 23, 2020
by R. Fergus Moir, Clergy Stuff
Prophecy is not predicting the future. Of course, there’s an element of that in what we read in the Bible, but a prophet is someone who simply speaks God’s words. In this passage, Paul goes into a long discussion of the difference between speaking in tongues and prophecy, stating that the former is essentially inward-focused (an individual talking to God) and the latter is outward focused, as described in the key verse, above. There’s nothing wrong with the individual talking to God, whether or not it’s understood by anyone else. After all, faith is a deeply personal thing, and we are called to pray individually as well as in community. But Paul tells us again and again in 1 Corinthians how interconnected we are as members of the body of Christ. And as God has created us to be in community, the gift of prophecy, through which we speak God’s words to build up, encourage, and console one another, is held by Paul to be the greater gift.
Loving God, remind me to turn outward in my spiritual life, sharing your presence with others in all I do and say.
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