7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 1:7-11)
“The end is near.” We found the subsequent verses 7-9 familiar for “be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint” are mentioned by Paul and John in many occasions. They are talking about the attitude towards the end of time. But Verses 10-11 are a bit surprising. They are not about attitude but they teach us how. And it does not teach us how to love or other things. It talks about spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are not mentioned by Peter in his other writings. Maybe be the first three verses is about attitude and the rest are about how. But the teaching of spiritual gifts here does not seem quite square with the passage. But if we look deeper, it may actually make sense.
Peter wants us to think about the implication of spiritual gifts in the end time because it is the very purpose of spiritual gifts. We usually talk about spiritual gifts in terms of have and have not. Whether I have the gift of tongue or if I do not have the gift of tongue. Just as Paul emphasizes spiritual gift is to build up the church and not to differentiate spiritual maturity. Peter takes it one more step. Peter tells us spiritual gift have to be deployed efficiently. He points out Christians do have different spiritual gift. Some would have the gift of preaching and the other would have gift of serving. There is no better gift, just different gift and we are called to use our gifts accordingly. Some may tend to believe preaching is a more glamorous gift and strive to make it his/her ministry. However, this is not what meant it to be. God intends us to just exercise our gift according to what is given to glorify Him. That is all. This is the ultimate reason to exercise gift.