Spiritual Gifts

Last night when I got home, I noticed that most of my neighbors had their “curbies” out by the street, reminding me that today is trash day. Which also reminded me that I needed to take out the trash. Last night the weather wasn’t very good, though, so I wheeled my curbie out to the curb before I went in the house, knowing that I wasn’t going to want to come back outside. I went ahead and bagged up my trash, and left it sit by the door, so that I could drop the trash in the curbie on my way to work this morning. I got up this morning, got ready for work, grabbed my stuff, grabbed the trash on the way out the door, and my curbie was gone. After a little research, I discovered that someone had wheeled my curbie back up to the house. Obviously, they thought it was stupid to have an empty curbie down by the street. I can’t blame them too much (although I kind of wonder who was looking in my curbie to start with—but I don’t really feel like my privacy was invaded, so I’m not too worried about it). Clearly, they were trying to help. It occurs to me that not everyone has the gift of helps.
Apostle Paul wrote about spiritual gifts on several different occasions. In 1 Corinthians 12:28, he lists gifts of healings, helps, governments, and diversities of tongues.
I think we all understand the concept of gifts of healings. Do they still exist? I believe that they do, but they are not nearly as common as they used to be. They certainly don’t seem to be nearly as prevalent in this day of modern medicine. I have heard of faith healers, of course, but I tend to believe that most of them are really just taking money from people that are either desperate or gullible or both.
The gift of helps is more common. Some people just find themselves helping other people. Most of the time, there doesn’t seem to be anything at all supernatural about it; they are just doing whatever they can to make things better for those around them. There are also a lot of people that try to help other people, and their intentions are good, but, in the long run, they really aren’t much help. That’s really how you can tell the difference.
The gift of governments? That’s a gift? It must be, the Bible says so. Unfortunately, those people almost never actually get involved in politics. Seriously, though, some people have a natural talent for organizing things, for making sure things get done.
The gift of diversities of tongues. That’s a really rare gift. It would really come in handy for someone doing missionary work, to be able to hold a conversation in a language that one has never studied, but, like I said, that’s really rare. There are some people that put a lot of stock in speaking in tongues as part of worship. I don’t think that’s what it’s about. Two chapters later, in 1 Corinthians 14:22, Paul says that tongues are a sign, not to them that believe, but to then that believe not. In the very next verse, though, he turns around and says that if all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? If you stop and think about it, though, if somebody comes to visit on a Sunday morning, and one person is praising God in Russian, another in Greek, and another in Farsi, and so on, and our visitor doesn’t know or understand any of these languages, what is he going to think? What would you think, if you went to church and a whole bunch of people that you don’t know are speaking languages that you don’t know? Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t at least be tempted to call for the whitecoats to come and take these people away. On the other hand, though, what if you are praying and seeking God, and you’ve been praying and seeking God, and it just doesn’t seem like you are getting anywhere. Are my prayers even getting past the ceiling? If you haven’t been there, just wait, it happens to the best of us. So you’re praying and seeking God, and getting discouraged, and the thought comes to your mind, “Is God listening? Is God even real?” but you keep praying and seeking anyway, and at some point you break through, you know it, you feel, it, but there are some lingering doubts, and then you start speaking in a language that you don’t understand. You know what you’re saying, because the words are forming from your thoughts, but the words don’t make sense, even to you. Doesn’t that erase any doubt that you had? Don't you know, at that point, that it has to be God? That’s what tongues is about; it’s for those times when we, in the body of Christ, have unbelief.
Paul also told us in 1 Corinthians 14:12 that spiritual gifts are for the edifying of the church—the body of Christ. That applies to all spiritual gifts, not just the ones I have listed here.

They Are Lying To You

By now, I think most of us have seen internet ads that proclaim, "They're lying to you, and it's costing you a fortune!" They're right. Of course, it doesn't necessarily follow that those ads are entirely true, either.
As far as home-based or internet-based businesses, if you think that you can just painlessly make the transition from working for someone else and being self-employed, guess again. Granted, when you're part of the 9-to-5 mass, it can seem like Heaven to not have to punch a clock anymore, but, setting your own hours can be disastrous. You still need to get your work done; being able to decide when to work sometimes means not getting the work done. It's very easy to put off doing things (especially things that you don't really want to do) when 'situations' arise (and they do). In the early days (or months or years) of being self-employed, it usually means working more hours (the person who set you up promised no more 40-hour work weeks--that's true; you'll be wishing for 40 hour work weeks before too long) for less pay.
Some of us have heard that the government is lying to us about 9/11 and Iraq. There's probably a lot of truth in that, too (but don't take the accusers at face value, either).
I have to wonder about the Jena 6. If they were really trying to kill that white boy, they sure didn't do a very good job of it. He received outpatient treatment at the local hospital. He attended some event the night he was beaten (some reports say a party, some say a school event). It seems to me that if 6 people tried to kill me, I wouldn't be willing to leave the hospital right away, much less go to a party; sounds to me like he didn't get beaten that badly. Did the Jena 6 get interrupted? The media has been strangely silent about why the victim had so little injury. On the other hand, the one of the Jena 6 that's been convicted already (the conviction was overturned on the grounds that he isn't old enough to be tried as an adult), Mychal Bell, has been convicted 3 times before (in juvenile court, I assume) of violent crimes. In any case, the lack of proof of intent to kill should not result in a finding not guilty, just guilty of a lesser charge.
None of this is really my point today. Most people take what information they are given and internalize most of it without really questioning it, whether it comes from politicians, or our bosses, or the media, or our religious leaders. It seems like a lot of people have lost the ability to question sources. Don't misunderstand me, almost everybody questions some sources, but they almost always have some sources that they don't question that aren't any more honest than the sources that they question.
For many years, a lot of established religions have taught that one shouldn't read the book or books that the religion is allegedly based on. The usual reason given is that common people can't understand the writings, they are much too complex. There may be some legitimate concern about exactly that, but, by teaching that you shouldn't read the Bible or the Koran, or whatever, but trust your religious leaders to explain the writings to you, it gives the clergy an immense amount of power. Don't misunderstand me, I believe that most priests and imams are careful not to abuse that power, but there will always be a few. And, to be honest, IMHO, most people are really at least a little afraid of finding out what the book actually says. It's a holy book, and I am so far from being holy... I think that's why there are so many books out there that try to explain what the Bible says. There was a very popular series of books recently that dramatized the writers' interpretation of the book of Revelation. How accurate was it? Most people that read the books didn't read Revelation, so they really have no way of knowing. This in spite of the fact that most people had never heard of either of the two men before these books came out, and have no real reason to trust either one of them. Even if these two men are giving their honest evaluation of what will probably happen as the prophecies play out, why would you want to limit yourself to their understanding?
All I'm saying is, if you believe the Bible, then read it; better yet, study it. If there are things in there that confuse you, then pray for understanding. If you believe the Koran, then read it, study it. I understand that Islam teaches that only certain people are considered to be qualified to interpret the writings of the Koran, so if there are things in there that you don't understand, you should find out what they think. But I would encourage you to be skeptical; you don't want to be limited to some man's understanding. God wants you to understand what He expects from you. If you run from that, it doesn't make you any less accountable.

Update: I saw this 'toon on Reverendfun.com, and it goes so well with my post, I just had to add it.