The More Excellent Way

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.  And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.  All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?  All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?  But earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And I show you a still more excellent way.   1 Corinthians 12:27-31

.   This is right before the Bible chapter often called the "love chapter." It sets the context for the verses many of us are familiar with. The setting or context as you can read above is........ the church of Jesus Christ.

It says that we are individuals, but are part of a body. God gave us functions so that we could work together like body parts work together. We have to be individuals, different from each other. We are not all preachers, not all teachers, not all prayer warriors, we are gifted for specific tasks. We have these gifts, but we should also aspire to the greater gifts that God has given us. These are the things that join our body parts together and connect us in order to properly move and serve. What is the "more excellent way" that He will show us?

Lets keep reading ..

Here is my translation of 1 Corinthians 13

If I am gifted to be a great preacher, but do not have love, I am just a lot of noise. If I have the gift of great insight and knowledge; and if I have strong faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my money, sacrifice my time, and give my life over, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. The gifts I have, even if they are used, cannot help without love among the members of the body. How do I act in love so that all of God's gifted parts create a functioning body. Here are some rules about the love that connects us as a body.  We are to aspire to live out this greatest of gifts.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not offended, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails;

Our knowledge and faith will eventually not be needed. Our gifts of preaching and teaching will eventually cease in the light of God's glory. For we know in part and we prophesy in part right now; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. They are gifts God has given us to help us learn the greater gifts. They are teaching tools like you would give to a child. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. Then we will realize what was most important and what was only temporary. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but even faith and hope will be fulfilled in the presence of God along with all of the ministry and gifts we worry over today, but the greatest will remain forever.  The greatest of these is love.

Open Heart Surgery

No, I am not in a medical crisis.

I am not in a crisis at all.  I am in awe of the endlessness of God.

If you are a Christian who is seeking to know God deeper every day, I have reached a couple of points of discovery I want to share.  First of all, there is no end to "knowing God."  I don't know if there is an end to the things God will allow us to "know about" Him.  Both searches I am sure will last a lifetime and possibly eternity.
      The word "knowing" can mean different things.
I can know facts.  I can correctly recall and use truths about things and people and even God.
I can also know people.  That doesn't mean I know everything about them, but that I have met them and can, because of experience of being with them,  guess what their thought and actions will most likely be in given circumstances.  I can even know God that way up to a point.
     But I have noticed that my best friends are not only those people that I know a lot about or even know  personally enough to predict their actions and thoughts,  but they are the ones whom I trust to let know about me.  I have revealed to them the contents of my heart and have allowed them to hold my heart in their hands knowing they will do everything to protect it.  These are people whom I have connected deeply with.... my family, my wife, and longtime friends.
     This is also God.    Recently I experienced a moment that revealed to me that there are parts of my soul that I have neglected to give God permitted access to.  Not on purpose, but I had not said, "God this vulnerable part of me is yours to use."  I reached this understanding after a period of time where God was challenging me to speak to him about things that I had no control over anyway.   In a way, God was showing me that "Hey, you can't do anything about this, and you still haven't asked me to get involved."  When I did, I was also challenged to discipline myself and ask myself to come beside God and Bless Him.  To do and say something to God that was from me personally.  I trusted Him with my emotions and they were richly increased in depth.  I trusted Him with my family, and our relationships became richer.  It was as if there had been a blockage in the flow of His love in the deepest parts of my heart.  I am still seeking to continue this deeper relationship and allow him to unblock parts of my heart and in some ways, I was responsible for removing the blockage that I had put in place.
     I have heard several people say that after they heal from open heart surgery, they feel better than they have for decades.  I believe I am having the same experience spiritually.
Trust God with the deepest part of who you are.  He will infuse your spirit with His love and closeness like never before.