Church in Bethesda Blog
Praying with Romans 12
I shared an invitation on Sunday to spend not only this week but the whole month of January reading and praying with Romans 12. Hopefully this will give the passage time to speak all of it’s wealth and find a place in our lives beyond just being words on a page.
And so I’d like to share a reflection on the verses 3- 8, which will be our focus this coming Sunday morning. Please take a look…
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
This is one of those passages that gets put in with Ephesians 4 in discussions of spiritual gifts, and certainly the language is all there. And as Paul loves to make lists, it feels very natural to pluck out the list in this passage: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy.
As I read the passage this week and mulled it around, I found myself relating to that list of gifts as more gifts of opportunity than ability. Know what I mean? With the exception of prophecy, the others all seem to be things that we will each encounter in a given month. When are we not presented an opportunity to serve someone? Then there’s opportunities of encouragement, giving, mercy and even leading and teaching for most of us, regardless of our chosen vocation. And as I tend to understand prophecy, many of us will have chances to speak prophetically into the lives of friends or family at some point.
I think we’ve just worn out the gifts of ability discussion at times. It often devolves into spiritual gift testing and a bunch of angst over whether we have guessed our “right” gift or not, which may miss a big point…
That point is in verse 5, “…and each member belongs to the other.” Looking at gifts of ability tends to focus me on myself. Looking at gifts of opportunity keeps me looking to others.
So, we begin to ask not just what God has faithfully put into us, but where God has faithfully equipped and placed us. And how does our faith cause us to hear and move in response to the lives, needs, challenges, hurts and joys around us?
I think this might be a good way to obey the words of verse 3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Looking not at what I may have gained by my gifting, but what my neighbor has gained by it, in the right here and right now.
I hope you’re finding Romans 12 a great place to rest and pray this week! See ya soon!
Comments (68)
Deb's Blog on Gifts from Romans 12!
Hey!
Deb wrote a great entry on her perosnal blog on her musing over gifts and gift testing... check it out!
http://unfinsymphony.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/gift-exchange/
Peace, Todd
Comments (3)
On "Shaping" Tunisia... Guest Blog by Greg M.
ON “SHAPING” TUNISIA
A truism of American foreign policy in the post Cold War world is that America has the power and duty to “shape history”. The belief in America’s shaping power has been the driving force behind policy in the Arab world from the time of the first Persian Gulf War until now. The “clay” of this region has proven resistant to American shaping, yet the firm conviction in America’s power to mold the region has stood.
Through these years, as American blood and treasure has been directed towards the end of shaping the Arab world in our image, many outside the Beltway have thought these efforts folly. We have pointed out the basic truth, rooted in America’s own revolutionary history, that the key to change in any country is in the citizens of those countries, citizens whose views are shaped by a multitude of factors beyond the will of American foreign policy elites. The extraordinary events in Tunisia are a significant example of this basic truth. The actions taken on the streets of Tunisia are having a transformative effect throughout the broader Arab world. With each passing hour the news of the power of ordinary citizens to effect change in Arab regimes spreads via Twitter, Facebook and reform media outlets around the Arab world. Some of these Arab reformers are going so far as to compare this to the beginnings of Solidarity in Poland during the height of the Cold War.
It is worth noting that the most significant contributions of America’s foreign policy establishment to this defining event are American diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks. In other words, an event that America’s foreign policy elite have described as “high tech terrorism” has been America’s chief form of aid to what might prove to be the years most significant act in shaping Arab democracy. This gives lie to the notion that those of us who have led the critique of American militarism and adventurism were somehow committed to the status quo in the Arab world. It demonstrates the indispensability not of American power, but of the human spirit, a spirit that blows unshaped by American folly.
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