05-17-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 17, 2023
As I referenced in my sermon on Sunday, my plan was to go see the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie on Monday, my day off. The family and I made it happen, and we really enjoyed it. There was a line in the movie that caught my attention. A character by the name of The High Evolutionary said, "There is no god. That is why I stepped in." Wow! That’s pretty profound. Not only is it the mindset of most narcissists, but on some level, I think we all have a habit of stepping into God’s place when we don’t think God is moving fast enough or don’t necessarily think God will make the right decision. We probably don’t say it out loud, but we’ve probably all done it.

​As we think about our Spiritual Gifts, the implementation of these gifts sort of requires some basic knowledge of the One who we claim to be the Source of the gifts. For example, if someone claims to have the Spiritual Gift of Shepherding, it is probably important to know what Jesus thought of shepherding. For him, it was about protecting the most vulnerable while leading and guiding people to safety. There is also language about the importance of the shepherd being one that can be trusted, among other thoughts. We do not claim a Spiritual Gift, and then proceed to assume we can define it apart from God (the example of Jesus). As followers of Jesus, we probably want to begin with Jesus when it comes to understanding how our Spiritual Gift is expressed.

Once again, O God, I seek your help as I allow the life of Jesus to both guide and critique how I am living my Spiritual Gift. I’m sure there is much to learn, so keep me on a track of continual growth on who Jesus is and how he would put such a gift to use. Amen.