Before getting into talking about the gifts of the Spirit, I need to talk about a huge realisation that hit me, and it came in the form of a “what if…”.
I began to think about what would happen if, right now, I was given one or more of the gifts of the Spirit. My first thought was how amazing it would be, and what a difference it would make to the way in which I dealt with situations and what God could do to make Himself real to people. How much more could I accomplish for God if I had discernment and wisdom, and people were healed and miracles were performed.
Then some reality hit – I still have a large chunk of self-interest tied in with what I do, and I really do lack a lot of humility. I know this because, when people rub me the wrong way or things happen that I don’t like, my attitude is really not what it should be. I get frustrated and angry with people, I avoid the people that I don’t like, and whilst I might not always verbalise what I’m thinking, there are those times when I have (in my “inner monologue”) given people a piece of my mind!
And yet in Queensland during 2001–2005, there were 962 casualties as a result of crashes involving young drivers of eight cylinder cars and utilities. Of those casualties, 23 people were killed and 307 people were hospitalised with 632 injured. Bottom line – the statistics indicate that high performance cars are dangerous in the hands of people that don’t have sufficient skill and maturity to handle them.
This is the reason that legislation has been introduced in Queensland limiting the circumstances in which P plate drivers can drive high powered cars, and there are generally large insurance premiums attached to such drivers – the intention is to either stop them driving high powered vehicles, or make sure that there are financial penalties for doing so.
I think that we can, with respect, carry the analogy over to our spiritual lives. The gifts of the Spirit are powerful – they are designed to be powerful, influential, attention-getting. These gifts have an effect that is far-reaching and significant. Yet there are huge risks of such gifts being given to people if they are not ready for them. It seems strange to say, but the gifts would be destructive, rather than constructive, in the hands of a person not ready for them.
I think that there is one thing (and only one thing) necessary to move from your spiritual “P” plates to an “open licence” – and why God is putting us through a “spiritual driving test” – and that one thing is LOVE. This is why I propose two principles…
WITHOUT LOVE, YOU WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
OK, before you start moaning about how “touchy feely” I’ve suddenly become, l think we’ve got to put aside our pre-existing connotations of love on hold for the moment and have a think about this - which is what we’ll do in the next section that talks about the fruit of the Spirit.
Also, I have proposed that love is necessary for us to relocate from the natural realm to the spiritual realm, and we’ll cover that off a little later down the track. Print this post
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