Matthew 5:43-48

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'  44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  47 "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

There are a number of Gifts of the Spirit.  The book of Isaiah mentions seven gifts given to man:

Isaiah 11:1-5

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and strength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,

And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

I realize this doesn’t quite look like seven, but I have taken from others writings in doctrine that these are as follows:

• Wisdom: With the gift of wisdom, we see God at work in our lives and in the world. For the wise person, the wonders of nature, historical events, and the ups and downs of our lives take on deeper meaning. The matters of judgment about the truth, and being able to see the whole image of God. We see God as our Father and other people with dignity. Lastly being able to see God in everyone and everything everywhere.

• Understanding: In understanding, we comprehend how we need to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. A person with understanding is not confused by all the conflicting messages in our culture about the right way to live. The gift of understanding perfects a person's speculative reason in the apprehension of truth. It is the gift whereby self-evident principles are known, Aquinas writes.

• Counsel (Right Judgment): With the gift of counsel/right judgment, we know the difference between right and wrong, and we choose to do what is right. A person with right judgment avoids sin and lives out the values taught by Jesus. The gift of truth that allows the person to respond prudently, and happily to believe our Christ the Lord

• Fortitude (Courage): With the gift of fortitude/courage, we overcome our fear and are willing to take risks as a follower of Jesus Christ. A person with courage is willing to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or even physical harm and death. The gift of courage allows people the firmness of mind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil, especially with regard to goods or evils that are difficult, just like Joan of Arc did.

• Knowledge: With the gift of knowledge, we understand the meaning of God. The gift of knowledge is more than an accumulation of facts.

• Piety (Reverence): With the gift of reverence, sometimes called piety, we have a deep sense of respect for God and the church. A person with reverence recognizes our total reliance on God and comes before God with humility, trust, and love. Piety is the gift whereby, at the Holy Spirit's instigation, we pay worship and duty to God as our Father, Aquinas writes.

• Fear of the Lord (Wonder and Awe): With the gift of fear of the Lord we are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all we desire: perfect knowledge, perfect goodness, perfect power, and perfect love. This gift is described by Aquinas as a fear of separating oneself from God. He describes the gift as a "filial fear," like a child's fear of offending his father, rather than a "servile fear," that is, a fear of punishment. Also known as knowing God is all powerful. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7) because it puts our mindset in its correct location with respect to God: we are the finite, dependent creatures, and He is the infinite, all-powerful Creator.

For the sake of saving time, I copied the seven gifts from Wikipedia which compiled them from the Catholic Catechism.  I did this to save time and always like to honor any source from which I glean information.  I realize you will say I am guilty of plagiarism, but I meant no harm here, just a lazy man’s way of accomplishing a task.  Besides, it is well done and I don’t believe I could improve on it.

Now, this said, there are other gifts of the Spirit beside these seven and many, many talents.  Personally, I believe there is a fine line between gifts and talents.  Gifts are special abilities God gives you to enhance the God experience and help you to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ (and of course, everybody else).  Some examples of this are teaching, prophesy, healing and many more.  A talent is a special ability you have attained by practice, study and in most cases, a natural capability.  Some examples of this are musical talent, poetry, writing, sports and cooking.  Of course, this is just a few of more than a thousand talents, but you get the drift.

If you have love, your interaction with God and your fellow man will be pure.  If your love is not pure, pride will sneak into your heart and you will soon be plagued by greed, jealousy, hatred, covetousness and other pride driven aspects that will place a wedge between you and your works.

Love has a number of qualities that are best explained by Scripture:

1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Most of all, love gives you patience.  It is difficult working with people and if you have a love for all of mankind, it is easier to put up with all the idiosyncrasies that go along with people.

Now, to pull out one special segment of 1 Corinthians 13:

1 Corinthians 13:13

13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I think this Scripture speaks for itself, so I won’t elaborate on it.  The basics here just stipulate that love is the greatest of all gifts or as it says in the Word:

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

This subject has many facets not covered in this short study.  I will try to continue this work soon and if anybody would like to add to it, e-mail me with your comments.

May you be blessed with the gift of love,

Pastor Dave Halford