All I was trying to do on my own strength, I needed to relinquish to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that helps me understand and receive God’s Word as truth. I wanted to be like a little child, as Jesus phrased it, and thought that was being open and eager to learn. How humbling to learn that Kingdom living means high service and high shame. A child in Biblical times had no rights or status. To become Teleios, I had to lay down what I saw as my rights as a Christian; to desire the meat of the Word.
As a soloist, speaker and author, ego does have a way of raising its ugly head. My “word child” was presented to the world, yet the book about the Samaritan woman could not be written until God had broken me and I knew her as well as I knew my own fallacies. As to singing, a raspy throat reminds me that I am vulnerable and expendable. Sharing my testimony at women’s luncheons was a blessing, but for which of these activities was God going to pat me on the back and say, “Awesome! Look how well you’ve done!” The moment we feel we have arrived, Satan gains ground an rubs his hands with Glee.
What am I doing is as an individual, so how does community come into play? Gifts are not given to an individual for one’s own benefit. One can sing, speak, write, but we do nothing to develop the gifts, and every believer has the responsibility to exercise their gifts for the body of Christ.
(to be continued)
