I have been reading in 1 Corinthians lately, and I just finished chapters 12, 13 and 14. Coupled with that, I am reading Come Thirsty by Max Lucado. Most everyone that has attended a wedding has heard 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and it is a wonderful chapter, but it is hardly ever quoted in its entirety. You see, chapter 12 and 14 are talking about spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues and prophecy. Those things were taboo in the church that I grew up in. In fact, they
were almost considered demonic. They were only associated with the TV preachers who were always doing crazy, off-the-wall things and were even parodied in the Chevy Chase movie, Fletch Lives. So I never had a personal experience with those types of gifts.
I recall taking a Theology class in college where the professor was saying that those particular gifts were only for the first century and are no longer active today. My first thought, although I had never experienced and had been taught differently, was that that couldn't possibly be right. I mean, why would God give something like that to a select few? Why would Paul encourage us to eagerly desire prophecy if we could not ever find it? Why would God give us such an incredible gift in His Word, then change the rules on us? It just didn't add up. But I kept quiet as I had not studied this, and the professor had more degrees than I had fingers and toes, so I was best to stay in my own world of unbelief. I had to write a doctrinal statement that year, and I had to plagiarize that particular part in fear of either failing or having to defend my stance, which I was unprepared to do.
But from that day on, my eyes were opened to something profound: God's gifts are still available. I attended many different churches who believed the same as my professor, and while there were some great people that were there, there was always some element that seemed to be missing from the environments.
In Come Thirsty, Max Lucado taps into it a bit. He describes people that have cars, start their engines, and then push the cars wherever they go. They have the power under the hood but prefer to use their own power to get them where they are going. Galatians 3:3 say, "You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish" These people that Lucado describes are foolish.
Now, I am not saying I have it all figured out, and there are definitely some times in my life that I look back and wonder why I was trying to do things with my own power, but I attempt, every day to rely on God's power at work in my life. But as I look back upon those churches and those situations in my life, I see a lot of people doing things FOR God rather than WITH Him or allowing Him to work with us helping Him. I see a lot of Christians that had "a form of godliness but denied its power." 2 Timothy 3:5
God is alive. God is on the move. God's power is at work today. Prophecy, tongues, and those types of gifts are not reserved just for the first century, nor are they just for the TV preachers that swing their jackets around and watch people fall around them, they are for all of us. There is something powerful about tapping into some of those things. There is something powerful about getting to the point of total reliance upon God for life. I think that so many denominations and "religions" have denied God a chance to really move and exercise his power for fear of what it might look like or how it might disrupt their plans. The time for selfishness is over, God's power wants to reside in us and move through us.
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