I just read this story in the NY Times. About people who get paid to blog, and over-stress themselves to the point of exhaustion and, rarely, even death.
As I have been reminded by those of you that read this...this blog is in no danger of such extremes. ;-)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Gifts
In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul speaks at length about the value of spiritual giftings.
He seems to believe that not every Christian should endeavour to produce every good work. Rather, that God especially equips each of us for particular tasks within His kingdom work.
Then he tears them a new one.
Because Paul wasn't happy with the Corinthians. Both times he writes the church at Corinth, that we are aware of, he is admonishing them for
missing
the
mark
and coming up short, considering all that the Father has in store for them.
But even as he calls them out on their misdeeds, lack of charity, and general disregard for all things holy, he builds them up as Christians. He never diminishes them.
He never reduces their sense of themselves, or God's living, breathing gifts within them.
I love teaching. I love communicating God. Communicating with Him, about Him to others. This, maybe above anything else, is my gifting.
There are times, some of them not so long ago, where I have wondered if my giftings are valid. Questions begin to stir.
Am I too beat up from life?
Does my past disqualify me from a future?
Are some people (like me, for example) just too damaged to qualify for real life?
Imagine if the answer to any of those questions was "YES". Imagine that. The Good News, then, is a charade. A farce, a cosmic joke. Then, as Paul says, we are to be most pitied for buying it. If.
The single most significant change in my life the past year has been to SHIFT. To risk, dare, dream, whatever, that the answer to all the above questions
might
just
be
NO
And that something I've believed all my life...might just be true.
Imagine that.
So here I am, a Corinthian, groveling in the mud. Still gifted. Still vibrant. And waking up.
He seems to believe that not every Christian should endeavour to produce every good work. Rather, that God especially equips each of us for particular tasks within His kingdom work.
Then he tears them a new one.
Because Paul wasn't happy with the Corinthians. Both times he writes the church at Corinth, that we are aware of, he is admonishing them for
missing
the
mark
and coming up short, considering all that the Father has in store for them.
But even as he calls them out on their misdeeds, lack of charity, and general disregard for all things holy, he builds them up as Christians. He never diminishes them.
He never reduces their sense of themselves, or God's living, breathing gifts within them.
I love teaching. I love communicating God. Communicating with Him, about Him to others. This, maybe above anything else, is my gifting.
There are times, some of them not so long ago, where I have wondered if my giftings are valid. Questions begin to stir.
Am I too beat up from life?
Does my past disqualify me from a future?
Are some people (like me, for example) just too damaged to qualify for real life?
Imagine if the answer to any of those questions was "YES". Imagine that. The Good News, then, is a charade. A farce, a cosmic joke. Then, as Paul says, we are to be most pitied for buying it. If.
The single most significant change in my life the past year has been to SHIFT. To risk, dare, dream, whatever, that the answer to all the above questions
might
just
be
NO
And that something I've believed all my life...might just be true.
Imagine that.
So here I am, a Corinthian, groveling in the mud. Still gifted. Still vibrant. And waking up.
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