WHAT?

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us.  I don’t want you to misunderstand this.  You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols.  So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:1-3

The church at Corinth was particularly gifted by God; it seems all the gifts of the Spirit were in full-blown operation there, and the church was becoming a seedbed of confusion as to what was acceptable behavior.  So Paul reminded them of the dividing-line between holy and hellish.  On that line stands Jesus Christ.  Those who speak/act with impunity towards even the name of Christ do not belong to the Kingdom.

We can often misread people, and whether they’re on the Christ-side of that line.  We mistake the nature of their gift, and what God has called them to be, or how God has called them to serve.  The Great Generation (my parents were in this group, born in the early 20^th century) gave birth to the Baby Boomers following the second World War.  Both of those generations were as different as can be.  Long hair on guys, holes in jeans, and Rock ‘n Roll didn’t set well with my parent’s generation; bodies covered in tattoos, and gender-neutral/same-sex everything doesn’t set well with mine.  But (as Apostle Paul might say) the gifts and Spirit are unchanging and not up for debate.  We should not miss that!

When I served as pastor at tiny Greenville, Florida, the church gave me a 50th-birthday present, a gift certificate to the local undertakers.  WHAT?  

Yup, that's what the inscribed card said.  So, I went to the funeral home, assuming  I was in for a time of pre-need planning for my early demise, and wondering what the next Deacon meeting would be about.  

When I got to the funeral home, I discovered they not only buried folks, but they also dressed them well.  This was a place of funeral directors and tailors.  A few weeks later I wore a great hand-tailored blazer to preach to those good folks who scared the life out of me!

Now the point of this is the same as that which Paul warned the good folks at Corinth, and what I would like to say about what we see in our day.  We must not let long hair (or short, spikey, multi-colored hair, or any other surprise-hair), nor tattoos, piercings, clothing, shoes (or lack of footwear), or anything else under the sun, interfere with what’s going-on underneath that skin.  I had assumed the worst about the great gift that was given to me; we must not make the same mistake in the Kingdom of God.  What is going on in our day of people opting-out of “traditions” in church, in favor of finding new ways to spread the Gospel of God’s love in Jesus Christ may (or may not) be a move of God…but that is not for any of us who are lower than divine-pay-grade to judge!

For You Today 

Your generation may be (in your humble opinion) the greatest or the worst.  But that is never the issue of importance in Heaven…God will do what He will do. 

The real issue is:  What’s going on with You?  What are you doing to speak the Word of Truth to whatever generation God puts in front of you?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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