Gifts through weakness

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as the ability which God giveth:  that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.  Amen."  (1 Peter 4:9-11)

The Apostle Peter was inspired to remind us once again that we operate under God's power when we commit ourselves to His love and accept Jesus as our Savior.  Clearly spoken in these few sentences that Peter gave us contains a number of truths that Christians may live by.  Those truths include the fact that God has given each one of us a gift that we are expected to use for the benefit of others; we are to practice good stewardship with God's Grace; when we speak we must speak of the things that God has given to us, and we are to do all things through the power of God's Spirit. 

There is a difference between a "talent" that we might have, such as playing a musical instrument, or singing, and a gift that God gives us.  Those talents are usually recognized early and we spend many hours developing those talents through practice and rehearsal.  When we perform for an audience we are on display to please those who are listening or watching.  When the performance is flawless it is usually because we have practiced and developed that talent into a skill.

I wonder if a gift is something that God places in us that we have not had the opportunity to hone within ourselves to the point that we soak up the praise from men and deflect it from God when we manifest that gift to others?  When I look at a gift a person has I always wonder if that particular thing is, or was, the weakest characteristic that person had.  The greatest orator may be the person, like Moses, who had trouble with speaking until he yielded himself to the power of God.  God demonstrates His strength through our weaknesses, not necessarily through our strengths.

We are sometimes fearful of using the gifts that God has given us because we know that the gift may cause us to tap into our greatest weakness.  But you see, this is where yielding, submission and faith begin to work in our lives.  God takes that weakness, makes it a gift and then sends His Spirit to create a work in us that in turn glorifies Him. 

What a rush to ride the crest on the wings of the Spirit as He does His work through us by charging up our weakness to be our greatest gift.

Jim Killebrew        



Beginning of wisdom

Solomon wrote in his Proverbs,




"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7) (KJV)


God is the one to be feared, but not necessarily in a sense of pulling back away from, but more a reverent approach of awe and respect with an aim toward worship. In the Christian life one senses the majesty and awesomeness of a Creator God and that Christian places everything else in a secondary position. From within that fear is the foundation of hearing from God what His will is for the Christian life. Christian living, then, is undergirded with God as the foundation and the starting point for gaining wisdom.


As Christian living begins to surround the individual through God's Spirit, the Christian begins to want to turn away from evil and avoid those things that are known to be displeasing to God. Yielding to God's message, the Christian steps onto the path of being led into righteousness through the power of God. This is not a work the Christian performs in order to gain some special favor with God, but rather a continual yielding to God's power in His Spirit that moves the Christian from a mere "head" knowledge to a "moral" knowledge.


Moral knowledge is an experiential knowledge that is produced in the Christian from the leading of God's Spirit. It enables the Christian to meld into practical Christian living experiences that reflect the Spirit of God. Again, this is not a "work" in which the Christian engages, of which he could boast, but a gift from God bound in the work of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross through the shedding of His blood, and the subsequent work of the Holy Spirit that dwells within the heart of the Christian. It is a gift of God by taking the Christian's hand and walking with him as he embarks on the journey of obtaining Wisdom.


Solomon wrote in such a way as to contrast two thoughts; the antithetical parallelism in verse 7 contrasts the one who is beginning the journey on the path to obtain Wisdom to the one who lives life in a completely opposite way. Solomon referred to that person as a fool.


That is a person who claims that Christian living is a weakness, a crutch needed by the Christian in order to make it in life. The fool's wisdom is to depend entirely on "self" to be the god of his life. What he desires is the important thing in life, and he defines what is most important; nothing can compare to his acquiring the best for himself. This is seen in the American culture as the constant quest for "things" and happiness. The seeking of self-pleasure consumes the individual constantly seeking newer, bigger, better, most advanced things that ends with a comparison of his life being, "He who has the most wins." A competitive tendency grows to the natural order of getting ahead no matter who gets in the way of personal success.


This lifestyle fails to view moral knowledge as important and engages in thoughts and activities that negate wisdom in the moral sense. As the verse states, it is wisdom and instruction that fools despise.


For the Christian to receive instruction in the Word of God and set his foot on the pathway to moral knowledge, and then turn from that instruction is to join the ranks of the fools. Christian living is to acknowledge God's Word, listen to the instruction of God's Word and yield to the Spirit of God to continue in His presence and have God write the instructions of Christian living on the Christian's heart.


Solomon began his writings by saying the Proverbs had a purpose. That purpose was to,


"Know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding." (Proverbs 1:2) (KJV)


Discernment is to learn by instruction the ability to know the moral truth and acquire the skill to distinguish between the truth and something else that is not the truth. It is the acquisition of a skill that is given to the Christian the ability to understand Wisdom. As the Christian becomes immersed in the Word of God through the gift of the Holy Spirit, through his personal faith in Christ, the power of the Spirit energizes the Christian to continue seeking the righteousness of God. The Christian lives and works then to do righteous acts, not to be saved, but because he is saved. Christian living is a gift from God, with all glory going to Him.