Immaturity is thinking about yourself. Especially when it comes to spiritual gits. These gifts fulfill us and they are nice. But the gifts God gives us are not about ourselves. They are about serving the church.
When it comes to the gift of tongues, this is a gift that we can pray in an unknown language that edified our spirits. But notice, it edified outs spirits. It edifies no one else because no one can understand what we are saying, and their spirits are not edified.
Paul, then, says to pray for interpretation, so that others are edified. It’s not that he believes tongues are invalid, but “in the church,” they do not serve a purpose unless there is translation. Therefore in the church, having and using a gift that builds up the body of the Christ needs to be central.
It’s what love looks like. Strengthening others and caring for them more than ourselves.
“Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord” (1 Cor 14:13-21).