All tagged gifts
God didn’t just decide the color of my eyes or my hair or how tall I would be. He decided if I would be an introvert or an extrovert, if I would see the world through my thoughts or my feelings, if I would be funny or unusually perceptive. He chose my natural gifts and the gifts that would be developed with practice.
Out of fear that Mary was getting too much credit for her role in salvation history, we decided to give her none. Among us, there must not even be a hint of devotion to Mary. In the end, we might not have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but we do seem to have thrown out the baby’s mother. And in doing so, I think we’ve lost quite a bit.
It is not uncommon for a church to have a lot of volunteers but only a few VOLUNTEERS, requiring ministers to constantly be in recruitment mode. And of course, constant recruiting takes an enormous amount of time.
Overwhelming gratitude is born in our hearts. It begins in our thoughts. It permeates our attitudes. It seeps out in our words. It is heard in our prayers.
We will always be in process, becoming what we are called to be. We learn through doing. Sometimes we learn by doing well, but typically we learn more by doing poorly.
I will leave you with this encouragement: God is pleased with your faithfulness, not a human-perceived outcome.
Along the way, I learned much about walking with patients and others, about relying on God’s Spirit to guide me, and about finding ways of keeping myself balanced.
Do you know what your church is actually good at? What your congregation’s core strength is? What key value underlies the heartbeat of your faith community?
Sometimes we exalt others for their skill in ministry, whether as great preachers or talented musicians or wonderful prayer leaders, but we end up exalting the person rather than remembering to give thanks to the God who gave those gifts.
The body of Christ cannot be idle in its efforts to cultivate unity. If the body of Christ is going to function to the fullest, the body must be one.
What we do with our wealth reveals what we believe about Christ. Wealth is nothing when it is not used in love and in light of our neighbor.
Where is the balance between offering gifts of service to the local congregation and implementing structures required for the kind of leadership by which the congregational body will feel truly supported?
Ask, seek, knock. Pray those bold prayers and there will come a day when God’s responsiveness comes tumbling after you. Expectantly wear sturdy shoes every day of your life lest you be bowled over by the love of God.
Bridge events provide a comfortable place for people to interact with church members in a relaxed and inviting way, and as we come out of the pandemic, they hold promise in helping our current church community as well.
I fear Christians are doing decision-making the wrong way. We are not lone wolves who must discern the will of God on our own. Spiritual gifts like discernment are given for the common good.
Over the years I have heard many stories of spoken and unspoken expectations on the spouse. This has varied from the assumption of specific ways they would be involved at church to expectations regarding employment.
