Skip to main content

Caution: Mining Underway

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance. (Ethel Waters)

So we must be more careful to follow what we were taught. Then we will not stray away from the truth... The Lord himself first told about this salvation, and those who heard him testified it was true. God also testified to the truth of the message by using wonders, great signs, many kinds of miracles, and by giving people gifts through the Holy Spirit, just as he wanted. (Hebrews 2:1,4)

At times, it seems we have nothing 'good' going on in our lives - like life has stood still. If we knew what was going on 'behind the scenes', we might look at the 'stillness' of the moment we are enjoying as a kind of 'present' that prepares us for what is about to come. Even when it doesn't seem like much is going on, we still need to be consistent in our walk. We need to do the things we know to do - using the gifts we have been given to the best of our ability. Why? We are about to be launched into action and it will require us to be 'ready'. I used to think these times of 'nothing happening' were my 'fault' - like I did something to 'reduce' the presence of God in my life. It was just that God was uncovering things he was about to use in some way. When we don't see or 'appreciate' what God is doing, remember this: "Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles." (Thomas Browne)

Gifts sometimes seem like 'rough, worthless pebbles', the furthest thing from a polished and cut diamond. When those gifts we are given are used for God's glory, there is a 'cutting and polishing' process going on. God does the work of 'perfecting' the gifts we have been given as they are put into use - not the other way around. If we continue to see only 'rough stones' when we look at our lives, we might just get a bit discouraged. The stonecutter doesn't see the roughness of the diamond and discard it - he knows the extreme beauty of the stone lies deeper within. As the stone is 'put into use', tenderly cared for under the skillful eye of the stonecutter, a thing of beauty AND strength is unmasked. Did you now diamonds are one of the hardest precious stones in the world? They are pretty much indestructible.

God gave you those gifts - as rough stones maybe - but they are given so he can be manifest through your life. Do diamonds just 'surface'? No, they are mined. The times when it appears nothing is 'going on' in our lives may just be the seasons when God is unearthing those 'rough stones' in us. They have to be unearthed if they are to undergo their transformation, don't they? Never discount the beauty that is within each one of those rough nuggets. The first skillful touch of his hand will begin to reveal the beauty, but the more he cuts away at the roughness of the stone, the more beautiful that gift becomes. Just sayin!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant.  In that day and time, a very taboo thing.  We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God.  Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated.  We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar.  The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish.  Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,